The Only Right Choice
by guubear
Summary: Shepard was a total noob during the first play through. She made terrible choices, skipped quests, and she didn't buy any DLCs. Hopefully she would do a better job saving the galaxy at new game plus. Rate M for sex and violence.
1. I-01: Patience

Summary: Shepard was a total noob during the first play through. She made terrible choices, skipped quests, and she didn't buy any DLCs. Hopefully she would do a better job saving the galaxy at new game plus.

Book I - Chapter 1: Patience

The apparition of the dead boy scowled at the wounded Spectre in irritation. "You don't have a choice. You don't have hope. The peace won't last. Soon, your children will create synthetics, and the chaos will come back. Besides, this crude device you called the Crucible will most likely devastate all organic life along with all synthetic life, seeing how ill-prepared you are."

Commander Jane Shepard took in a ragged breath, staring the self-proclaimed Catalyst wearily. The angry AI's previous explanations on the true purpose of the cycle left her reeling. Or maybe it was witnessing her loved ones dying in front of her so recently that still had her in shock. "I do have a choice. I can choose not to activate the Crucible… No. that means the Reapers would have won. Damned if I do, and damned if I don't. This is impossible."

The AI pressed again. "You must choose."

Shepard hung her head in despair. So it finally came down to one impossible choice, and it fell on the shoulders of one individual to make the call for the entire galaxy. Someone like her who had made numerous wrong decisions, who had to live with so many regrets. Shepard saw the faces of her fallen comrades flashing in front of her eyes. She did not try hard enough. She was not good enough. She was not worthy. It was Mindoir all over again. The Catalyst was right about how ill-prepared she was throughout the whole ordeal. Most of the time she was stumbling around like a fool with no concept of cause and effect. "If only I could do this all over again, I would. I would give anything to do it right. No matter the cost." The words tumbled out of her split lips in a hushed whisper.

"Re-play. Is that your final decision? Fascinating. Humanity surprises me again. Or maybe it's just you, Shepard." The Catalyst spoke with wonder.

Shepard snapped her head up. "What?!"

The ancient AI explained, "I can add your energy to the Crucible's. Everything you are will be absorbed and then sent out to a specific Prothean Beacon, ready to be downloaded when you first interacted with the device. It would take an enormous amount of energy to punch a hole in the space-time continuum, but it is well within my capability to do so."

"Yes! I choose to re-play. I'll do better, I swear. I will make it right this time!" Shepard felt hot, relieved tears rolled down her cheeks as an elating sense of hope vibrated through her body.

The ghostly figure of a boy grew taller, and morphed into the shape of her beloved Liara. "As you wish, Shepard." The AI whispered, and planted a kiss on her forehead before it disappeared.

Shepard grinned even as pain wracked her body when she sped up and took a running leap at the brilliant blue column of light.

x-x-x

Saving…

Saving complete.

Importing save file…

x-x-x

Commander Jane Shepard woke with a groan. Blinking slowly at the bleary figure hovering over her field of vision, she felt like the morning after shore leave. It would be a pain to wash out the purple puddles of ryncol induced vomit stains on her carpet.

"Easy there, Commander. How are you feeling?" Dr. Chakwas' familiar voice brought a rush of memory back to the forefront of her mind.

 _The Catalyst, the Crucible, Reapers…_

 _Liara._

Shepard bolted up to a sitting position, and instantly regretting it. "Aww." She palmed her eyes as a wave of dizziness knocked her off her back again.

"Bloody marines. Why do I even bother." Dr. Chakwas muttered. "The Prothean Beacon knocked you out cold. You've been unconscious for over a day. Do refrain from injuring yourself further in my med bay."

"Over a day?!" _It was only 15 hours last time._

"Whatever the Beacon did, it put a lot of stress on your brain. There are some unusual beta wave change, but physically, you should be fine." Dr. Chakwas paused, glanced around the room to make sure they were alone, and lowered her voice. "Shepard, I am your doctor, you can trust me to keep your secrets. The things you put yourself through… I thought Elysium was bad enough."

Shepard sat up cautiously and gave the doctor a bewildered look. "I don't know what you are talking about, Doc."

Dr. Chakwas pursed her lips at Shepard's reply. "No need to play coy with me, Commander. I understand how black op works. My lips are sealed. I did a scan when you were brought in. Your medical file in Alliance service record is a hilarious fiction. As your attending physician, it is impossible to hide this from me. The least they could have done is to keep an honest list of all your cybernetic implants. This information is crucial for calculating the right drug dosage. It would have been a complete disaster if you were brought in for surgery and I gave you the wrong anesthetic, not knowing your cybernetic kidneys would metabolize it in minutes!"

 _Everything you are will be absorbed and then sent out to a Prothean Beacon, ready to be downloaded when you first interact with the device._

"Sorry, Doc. Classified info and all. You know how the game is played. Let the brass maintain this fiction. Just between us, I will give you the accurate update if you ask. Off the record, of course. You will have to destroy my record every time you take a scan." Shepard said with a poker face.

"Of course, you can trust my discretion. In fact, it's already done."

Shepard gave the woman a grateful smile.

"There is one other thing. I noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."

The smile on Shepard's face turned rueful. "Not dreaming. I was remembering, reliving. Death. Destruction. The usual. Things I had to do, mistakes I've made, loved ones I couldn't save. It comes with the job, Doc. I try not to let it bother me. It's in the past, anyway." She said quietly with her eyes fixed on the floor, not wanting to see the look of sympathy on Dr. Chakwas' face.

The door to med bay slid open with soft hiss. Anderson and Kaidan filed in, both looking quite worried.

Shepard grinned at the two no longer dead comrades.

Before Anderson could speak, Kaidan began to apologize profusely. "I'm so sorry, Commander. It's all my fault! If I were more careful with the Beacon, you wouldn't have gotten hurt! It should have been me!"

Shepard raised a hand to stop him. "Don't blame yourself. I blame Saren. I bet he booby-trapped the thing to blow with proximity bomb to get rid of any evidence."

Kaidan agreed, "It makes sense."

Seeing the happy and hopeful look in his eyes, Shepard mentally slap herself; she had forgotten about his unfortunate crush on her. Now that's something she should nip in the bud before he embarrass himself every time they speak.

"Alenko and Williams both gave their reports already. I am aware what we are dealing with. We are on our way to the Citadel. How are you doing, Shepard? You've been out for a whole day. Should I be worried?" Anderson asked.

"No, sir. The explosion shook my brain, is all. I've had concussions like this before. I can attest from personal experience that a straight up flaming ryncol shot hurts more. It's comparable to headbutting a krogan." Shepard replied.

Anderson laughed. "You are fine if you can joke, good. Take some rack time for the rest of the trip. You will need it when we report our bad news to the Council."

Shepard saluted. "Aye aye."

By the time they reached the Citadel, Shepard had chatted with every crew member once and walked around _her_ Normandy SR-1 twice. How she had missed her baby! But if she had to make things right…

Shepard frowned in dismay, but she quickly shook herself off to focus on more important issues.

Things were looking up already. Due to her "Alliance black op medical file", Dr. Chakwas did not mention to Anderson about how the Beacon had scrambled her brain. Therefore, the Council could not discredit her for spouting nonsense about visions and nightmares of doom. The Council could deny the existence of Collectors and Reapers all they want, but they would recognize the need to deal with Saren and his army of geth.

Oh yes, Shepard knew how to deal with Saren. One scared rogue Spectre was nothing comparing to the horrors that followed in his wake. Sovereign was only one Reaper vanguard. She knew better now to cool her head and make the call to save the bloody Council this time around. The power vacuum after the demise of the Council was the perfect opening for vermines like Cerberus to seize power. In hindsight, the mistrust all the races held for humanity afterward was the true cause of the failure to repel Reaper invasion. Humanity could not afford to stand alone. On top of that, Destiny Ascension and the ten thousand crew members on board would have been a formidable asset to retake Earth. Think how many lives would had been saved!

Shepard vowed to do better. This time, it would be different. She would be ready. It's time to go beyond her N7 training - how to be an effective marine, but a dull stone nonetheless - it's time to be a leader, to be a Spectre.

 _We would be legends, but the records are sealed. Glory in battle is not our way._

 _We will hold the line._

She had some serious scheming to do.

x-x-x

It was mostly the same as she remembered. Standing in front of the Council with her back ramrod straight, Shepard pretended not to be bothered by the condescending tone the Councillors had when they addressed Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson.

"Humanity is not ready for a human Spectre, or a seat on the Citadel Council." Said the holographic projection of Spectre Saren.

Shepard tilted her head as she addressed the Council with a faint smile on her lips. "Perhaps. Humanity is young. As a result, we are commonly considered to be foolish, impatient, and overly emotional by other races. However, with youth, came adaptability. It would be ill advised to underestimate us."

The turian Councillor Sparatus' mandibles flared in irritation at Shepard's mild rebulk. "Is that a threat, Commander?"

"Hardly. It's an advice, Councillor. As I said." Shepard said innocently, ignoring the sharp look from Anderson.

"Damn, skipper. You sure got that skullface's feathers all ruffled. Nicely done." Ashley snarked after they got in the long elevator ride down from the Council tower.

Kaidan shook his head at the Gunnery Chief. "I don't know. I honestly can't say I blame them. If I were in their shoes, I would also take the words of my top agent at its face value."

"The Council's attitude with us doesn't matter. Think about it this way. When we bring them irrefutable evidence about Saren and his betrayal, they would look incredibly foolish after having said something about how humanity is not ready. I did _advise_ them about underestimating us." Shepard said with a grin.

And boy, was she right. After a few firefights in the Ward, they got the irrefutable evidence they needed. Whey they presented it in front of the Council, Sparatus looked positively ill, Tevos paled before turning an interesting shade of lilac, and Valern's left eye twitched three times when the audio re-played again in the echoing Council chamber.

Shepard managed not to crack a smile when the humbled Council swore her in as the first human Spectre. The helmet helped.

x-x-x

"Sorry, Captain. It's not fair to take the Normandy from you." Especially with what she planned to do to this fine ship, Shepard couldn't help but feel she had wronged Anderson.

Anderson waved her off. "You will need her to stop Saren. This is for the best."

Shepard nodded, and decided to make another move to further set her plan in motion. "Thank you, sir. If you don't mind, I do have one question for you though. I would appreciate some clarifications."

"Ask away."

"I understand that the Normandy and her crews are on loan to the Council. Alliance had no say in how the ship should be run until the mission is over. However, now that I am a Spectre, how would this impact my commision with the Alliance? There is no precedence."

Anderson seemed surprised at her question, but he answered quickly. "I actually have an answer for that curve ball. See, since humanity has been pushing for a Spectre for decades, the Alliance had anticipated this situation and made clear that once selected, a Spectre is considered to be honorably discharged. This is a matter of standard procedure for all council races. I should know. I was once a Spectre candidate myself, until I blew it. Or I should say, until Saren sabotaged me."

"I've heard of that incident before. Saren is a real piece of work."

"Be careful, Shepard. Don't get yourself killed. Saren is ruthless. Knowing his history, he will not hesitate to sacrifice civilian lives to get what he wants." Anderson cautioned.

Shepard frowned thoughtfully. _Now this is a good opening._ "I wonder what his end game is. He may be ruthless, he is far from stupid. Now that the Council is aware of his betrayal, I would not put it past him to assassinate the Councillors out of spite. With an army of geth at his beck and call, what's stopping him from targeting the Citadel directly? After all, what's civilian lives to him?"

Anderson grimaced as if punched in the gut. "You do paint a grim picture, Commander. Let's hope you are wrong."

"Wouldn't hurt to be more prepared." was her reply.

"You're right, it sure wouldn't hurt." Anderson agreed.

x-x-x

Shepard was glad she had enough foresight to wear a helmet with full faceplate for the Therum mission, even though it was not required. It would alarm Tali and confuse Wrex if they ever saw those big, fat tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"Can you hear me out there? I am trapped. I need help!"

Shepard blinked away her tears. It took a minute and several deep breaths for her to finally centre herself. To everyone else, she probably appeared to be incredibly menacing just by standing there in her black N7 armor with her face fully concealed, while glaring at the traitor Benezia's daughter in silence. Nobody would guess she was trying her damndest not to sob at the sight of her previously deceased lover.

"Are you alright, Dr. T'Soni? What happened to you?"

Caught in the force field, Liara appeared to be scared out of her mind, just as Shepard remembered. "Thank the Goddess! Listen, this thing I'm in is a Prothean security device. I cannot move, so I'll need you to get me out of it, all right?"

Shepard gave a curt nod, and signaled her squadmates to follow. The mining laser worked just as well as last time, though she was a bit less enthusiastic with the blast. She had no intention to cause another cave in. Joker's gloating could get tiresome.

When she finally turned off the security device, it took everything she had to watch passively as Liara fell to the ground. Judging by her sickly pallor, she had been trapped in there for a while. Already prepared for this, Shepard quickly pulled out a canteen of water and a field ration bar from her suit and shoved them toward Liara. Shepard willed herself to look away as Liara's hands shook from the exertion of peeling open the flimsy plastic package. Showing any more concerns for a supposingly total stranger would invite too many uncomfortable questions.

"Look alive, we've got companies. A softshell and your typical junkers. Slag them." Shepard barked. "Dr. T'Soni, stay clear."

It was just as entertaining as last time when Wrex headbutted the mouthy tank-bred krogan clone so hard, he blasted the poor fool right out of the cave. This short but brutal exchange took all but one minute to wrap up. It helped that her biotic was much _much_ stronger than before. It was almost unfair.

"Damn, Shepard. I didn't know Alliance trained vanguards could throw biotic around like this." Wrex growled with a happy lit to his deep voice. It almost sounded like respect.

Shepard gave the krogan warlord a noncommittal shrug. She was anything but a typical Alliance vanguard, and she saw no need to explain where she got her abilities from. She was content to let him draw his own conclusions, just like how she agreed with Dr. Chakwas' black op theory.

Not that anyone would believe the truth anyway.

On Shepard's order, the standard after mission debrief was delayed for twelve hours to spare Liara from a dramatic fainting. Knowing how weak Liara was, Shepard personally escorted the young asari maiden straight to med bay before she even took off her helmet. Her effort to refrain from doing anything inappropriately intimate was unfortunately perceived by everyone else as being a hard ass.

Sitting on a med bed to be fussed over by Dr. Chakwas, Liara asked in a small, uncertain voice that made Shepard's heart clench painfully. "Am I a prisoner?"

"No!" Shepard replied in a rush, before she caught herself and spoke more slowly. "You are a guest." She paused for a moment and decided to elaborate. "Rest. Get something to eat. Dr. Chakwas will take good care of you. We can talk once you feel better. I should go." She said, and left the room.

She refused to admit that it felt like running away.

x-x-x

Shepard gave the order to make for the Citadel right away.

For her plans to work, certain things had to happen in proper orders. Behaving like a single-minded bloodhound on a scent trail was one of her biggest mistakes. She refuse to fall into the same trap this time. Saren wasn't the big bad. There are bigger fish to fry.

 _Patience._ Her one word mantra. _Patience._ She repeated it in her mind.

Twelves hours was a very long time. Shepard took a shower, wrote a report, ate in the mess hall, updated the armory's inventory, maintained the Mako, and took another shower before she made for the med bay. "How is our guest doing?" She asked the doctor conversationally, taking great care not to seem overeager.

Dr. Chakwas gave her a puzzled look before she answered, "Quite well, actually. All she needed was some decent food and rest after being trapped in a stasis field for five days."

Shepard hesitated. On one hand, she would love to talk to Liara right away, on the other hand, she was honestly afraid to spend more alone time in her presence. The last thing she wanted was to scare the shy asari maiden away. She could scheme and plot about her numerous enemies, but she couldn't seem to think straight when it comes to Liara.

"It's ok to show that you care, you know." Dr. Chakwas said with a sly grin on her face.

"Huh?"

"Oh, to be so young again. It's quite obvious if you know where to look. Chin up, Commander. Soldiers with piercing eyes and sensitive souls are hard to resist." Dr. Chakwas actually _giggled_.

Shepard looked away. _Damn it!_ She was sure her face was as red as her hair. "I don't know what you are talking about." She insisted.

"Can't fault your taste though. Dr. T'Soni is quite the looker." Dr. Chakwas chuckled, taking pity on the normally unflappable Commander Shepard. "She is not in the office, if you are wondering. She should be waiting for you in the meeting room for the debrief. Somebody gave her the impression that you would be very displeased if she were late."

"Great. Now she is scared of me."

"I believe Dr. T'Soni was only trying to make a good impression."

Somehow Shepard did not share the older woman's optimism. Unfortunately, her bad mood must have shown on her face. Because when she entered the meeting room, _everyone_ jumped up to their feet and gave her a crisp salute. Wrex included.

Shepard scanned the room, perplexed at the reception. Was she really that intimidating? What had she done that would make people think she was a ruthless renegade? Well… She _was_ quite bitter and full of anger when Cerberus resurrected her that she made a lot of bad calls, but it hadn't happen yet. And she would make damn sure it didn't this time.

"At ease." Shepard leaned back against the railing and gestured the team to take a seat. "Dr. T'Soni, glad to see you are doing better now." She commented, noticing the wide-eyed look on Liara's face.

"Com-Commander Shepard? You are not what I expected. Your helmet... I did not recognize you. I am rambling… Oh Goddess. You must think I'm rude." Liara looked like she was ready to kick herself. "What I meant to say was, thank you. You saved my life back there. Those geth would have killed me, or dragged me off to Saren."

The rest of the debrief went smoothly after the initial hiccup. In hindsight, Liara's theory about the Protheans and the cycle of extinction was spot on.

"I've read your works. They are very impressive. It's unfortunate your words don't carry much weight due to your youth."

Now people in the room was staring at her like she had sprout horns.

Liara looked excited, flattered, and frightened all at the same time. "You've read my research papers?!"

"Yes, I have. My favourite piece is the one on Fehl Prime dig. Your apprentice Treeya Nuwani is currently doing follow up work at the same site, by the way." Shepard said, frowning at the slack jawed expression around the room. "Was I the only person who bothered to gather intel on the primary target before the mission?"

Bothe Kaidan and Garrus looked rightly chastised.

"Wait. You've been studying the Protheans for fifty years, you have an apprentice, and you are considered too young? What?" Ashley exclaimed.

"She is only one hundred and six. Barely an adult by asari standard. The equivalent in human year would be about eighteen. Be nice." Shepard said to the Gunnery Chief.

Ashley blanched.

"Humans have short life. It is a good thing. Sometimes I think krogans live too long." Wrex commented.

"Can we get back on topic? We don't have time to waste. We were talking about Saren and the Conduit." Garrus spoke impatiently.

Wrex growled at the former C-Sec.

Garrus flared his mandibles at the merc.

Shepard gave them a narrow-eyed glare, and both of them stiffened and backed off.

"Dr. T'Soni, please continue." Shepard said.

Liara shook her head. "Unfortunately, I do not have any information that could help you find the Conduit, or Saren."

"I don't know why Saren wanted you dead, either with or without Benezia's approval. He may come after you again, and I can't think of a place safer than here on my ship. Besides, the Council is not giving us much support. We could use the help from a Prothean expert and a biotic."

Liara smiled hopefully at the Commander. "You mean I can stay?"

"I'm not gonna lie. Even if you stay with us, it will still be dangerous. We will be fighting an army of geth, and you will have to confront your mother on the opposite side of the battle field in the future. Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes! Thank you, Commander. I am very grateful for everything you have done for me."

Shepard extended a hand toward Liara and said, "Welcome aboard."

The soft touch of Liara's warm hand in her own roused a swarm of butterflies in her belly. The thought of never letting go crossed her mind for a fraction of a second before she grinned, and let those blue fingers slip out of her grasp.

 _Patience._

x-x-x

After much internal debate, Shepard decided to bring Liara and Tali along on her second visit of the Citadel. She wanted to see Liara's adorable reactions to all the fascinating "Prothean" architectures. Similarly, she wanted Tali to be able to visit the Citadel without being treated like a second class citizen.

What she forgot to take into consideration was getting an urgent call from Lieutenant Girard regarding a delicate situation as soon as she set foot inside C-Sec Academy.

Cursing herself for letting something this important slip her mind, Shepard led the team back to the elevator for the long ride up to the docking bay. "We have a situation on the docking bay. A traumatized girl with a pistol is about to hurt herself. She was taken by the batarians as a slave for the past thirteen years. They want me to talk her down. Fair warning, this won't be pretty at all. No matter what happens today, I would really appreciate it if you keep it to yourself. I would consider this a personal favour. The rest of the crew don't need to know all the details."

Liara and Tali shared a concerned look, but they easily agreed to her request.

Out on the gangway, two Alliance officers stood nervously in front of the Normandy. Lieutenant Girard saluted the Commander and updated her on the situation. "Got the sedative to calm her down, but the girl won't let us get close to her. Every step we take, we just get her more wound up."

Shepard took the sedative from Girard and slowly made her way toward the former slave who referred to herself in third person. As an animal.

With her best cat coaxing voice, Shepard asked the girl to think back. Eventually the girl started to remember herself. Shepard took a step forward, but the girl pulled up her pistol.

"Stay back!"

Shepard stopped. "I was from Mindoir too. I lived with my grandma and my dad in a small cottage at the edge of a lake. When the batarians came, they set the house on fire with us in it. My dad was not a fighter, but he was an Alliance engineer before he retired to the colony to raise me. He still had his service pistol, and he gave it to me and told me to run. I was too scared to move, and they caught up to us and shot him in front of my eyes. Grandma screamed at them, and they shot her too. I tried to run, but they were faster. Two of them jumped on top of me to put a collar around my neck. I fought back. I was never this angry, this scared, in my life. So I pushed. I pushed them back with my mind, and they flew away from me. I picked up my dad's pistol and shot them when they were down."

Shepard took another step closer. "There were five more of them nearby, and they all started shouting and firing at me. I took a couple hits, but at the end I killed them all. I was planning to go down fighting, and it surprised me too, when I survived. I knew I was a biotic, but I was never trained. I didn't even have implants back then, but I figured seeing my family slaughtered was enough motivation to try."

The former slave stared transfixed into Shepard's sad green eyes. Shepard took one more step. "I sat in the middle of the carnage, shellshocked. A few more batarians showed up, and I broke their necks with my mind. All except the last one. I was bleeding out, completely exhausted. It felt like my head was splitting open with all that uncontrolled biotic rampage. The last slaver got me. He held me up by my neck, choking me with his bare hands. I pulled up my dad's pistol and unloaded the entire clip until the gun exploded from critical overheat. I lost three fingers in my right hand, and I blew a hole through his spine. I lay on the ground and waited to die."

The pistol slipped from the girl's slack hand, but Shepard pretended not to notice. She took a final step, now within an arm's reach of the girl. "All that waiting must be worth something. The Alliance finally came to save the day. They pushed all the batarian slavers out of the colony. My mother was serving as a Lieutenant on SSV Einstein, and her ship was one of the first to arrive. She led a squad of marines and found me half dead and covered in batarian guts. She held me and cried. She never cried."

Shepard put her arms around the girl's bony shoulders and gave her a hug. The girl began to weep. "They fixed me up, gave me back my missing fingers and threw in a set of L3 implant for good measure. They asked me if I wanted to have the scars on my face removed, and I told them where to shove it. They didn't understand. I didn't want to forget. I had to remember that weak, scared girl who stood by and watched her family die." She spoke softly, fingers tracing the small nick that split her left eyebrow.

She handed the sedative to the sobbing girl, and asked, "do you remember you too?"

x-x-x

The long elevator ride down to C-Sec was beyond awkward.

Finally, Tali could not stand the silence. "The story you told her… Did it really happen?"

Shepard nodded.

"If you don't mind me asking, how old were you?" Tali asked.

"Two months before I turn sixteen."

"Keelah!" The quarian exclaimed.

"It could be worse. I was lucky." Shepard said softly. "That girl and what she went through… It could've been me."

That ended the line of conversation.

The last time Shepard was on the Citadel, she was in a too much of a hurry to explore. She figured rescuing Liara from the stasis bubble was more urgent than scanning the keepers for Chorban. Wanting some distractions after the incident on the docking bay, Shepard took her time to simply walk around the Presidium, just talking with people; mediating disputes, signing autographs for a fan, those sorts of small things.

Shepard had a mental checklist. There were three names on the top of that list - Admiral Kahoku, crime boss Helena Blake, and Consort Sha'ira.

Assignments from Kahoku and Blake would take a while, but Sha'ira's problem could be resolved right here on the Citadel, so Shepard got it out of the way quick enough. But then, another awkward situation came up when the Consort insisted on expressing just how much she appreciated the Commander's good deed of the day.

"Um, we'll wait outside. Take your time." Liara grabbed a clueless Tali and practically dragged her out of the Consort's chamber as if the place were on fire.

"Wait, what?" Shepard was stunned for a moment when Sha'ira pressed up against her and trailed a few light kisses along her jaw.

"Relax, Commander. You are much too tense." Sha'ira purred, put her hands on Shepard's hips, and proceeded to ravage her mouth with a toe-curling kiss.

Between the kiss, the touch, and the sheer amount of pheromones Sha'ira put out (enough to drown an elcor), it took Shepard a whole ten seconds to gather enough strength to finally push the Consort away with a ragged gasp. "Stop, stop!" Shepard stumbled backward until her back was against a wall. "I just wanted to talk!"

Sha'ira stared at Shepard like she had never seen such a strange creature before. "It is obvious that your body intimately understands the joy of an asari's touch. You are clearly aroused, and I am more than willing, so why do you abstain?"

Shepard shook her head like a wet dog, trying very hard to focus. It was nigh impossible in the presence of a sexually charged asari Consort who took her refusal as a personal challenge. "Liara." She gasped.

The overwhelming fog of _want_ lifted in an instance. Shepard sighed with relief. She straightened up and crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest. "That wasn't very nice."

"My sincere apologies, Commander." Sha'ira had the decency to look contrite. "I was unaware you were already taken. I can assure you, this will not happen again without your expressed permission. Now then, what do you want to talk about?"

Shepard took out a sealed envelope from a compartment of her hard suit. "Your discretion and two tasks. You will help me save millions of innocent lives." She handed the envelope to the Consort.

Sha'ira inspected the heavy paper product in her hands, bewildered. "Ink and paper? This is most unusual, Commander. And what do you mean by saving millions? I don't think you are one to exaggerate."

Shepard sighed. "Anything digital can be hacked. Lives are at stake. Secrecy is required."

Sha'ira leaned forward and gave the Commander a sharp look. "Go on."

"As a personal favour, please have this letter delivered to Matriarch Aethyta in Illium. I won't tell you any details because the less you know, the safer you will be. I have powerful enemies, Consort. They have eyes and ears everywhere. My own life depends on your discretion."

"Consider it done. What of the second task?"

Shepard put a hand over her eyes tiredly. "This one is a bit trickier. It's about Saren."

Sha'ira asked with a slight frown, "The rogue Spectre? I've heard. He betrayed the Council and amassed an army of geth. I am afraid I cannot help you much regarding Saren. I have avoided association with him for decades, I don't have any insider information on him."

"No, that's not what I need." Shepard paused for a long moment, thinking hard. At the end she decided to reveal as little as possible. "On the audio file recovered from a geth hard drive, Saren was talking to Lady Benezia about bringing the return of the Reapers and searching for a Prothean weapon called the Conduit. I was made Spectre and given the task of stopping Saren by the Council."

Sha'ira nodded, already awared of this information.

Shepard continued, "I omitted a critical information on my initial report to the Council. The Beacon on Eden Prime contained a telepathic Prothean distress call. When I touched it, it gave me a warning about the Reapers."

"You hid _this_ from the Council?!"

Shepard gave Sha'ira a dry look. "What was I supposed tell them? That I had a bad dream, that the ancient sentient race of machines that had caused the Protean extinction is back to kill us all? You know the Council better than I do, you can probably guess what their response to my claim would be. Any sane person wouldn't believe me. Hell, I wouldn't believe me."

"If even a fraction of what you said was truth…"

"I can show you. The question is, do you really want to see it?"

Sha'ira sat very still.

Shepard let the Consort take her time to consider her offer. After a few minutes of tense silence, Sha'ira gave the Spectre a slow nod.

"The imagery is very gruesome. It will give you nightmares." Shepard warned.

"I will cope."

Shepard walked up to Sha'ira, relaxed, and closed her eyes. "Then see for yourself."

Sha'ira's fingers lightly touched her temples. "Embrace eternity." She breathed, and she _saw_.

 _Legions of machine devils dropped out of the sky, killing, burning, reaping, leaving whole worlds dead. Everything was burning. Fallen loved ones twisted into soulless husks, grisly mockery of who they once were in life. Flesh of the dead perverted and used as slaves. People screaming for help that would never come. The Citadel was the first to fall. Trapped, nowhere to run. Evil pouring out of every mass relay, raining down death and destruction in every world. Trillions mowed down like weeds. Betrayal. Indoctrinated servants of the machine devils. Surrender was not an option. Resistance was futile. Inevitable was the cycle of extinction of all organic life..._

Shepard felt the blind terror leaking from Sha'ira's end of the connection and quickly severed the meld. The Consort wept like a child in her arms, inconsolable. Shepard sat her down on the floor, rocked her back and forth in a soothing gesture and waited for the tears to dry. "Hey, hey. Breathe. It's alright. You are not really there. You are safe. I've got you."

Eventually, Sha'ira was aware enough to form words again. "How could you stand this? How could you be so strong? That vision… Goddess. It almost killed me." She whispered. Her body still trembled uncontrollably.

Shepard wasn't sure what to say to that.

When Sha'ira finally regained enough composure to stop shaking, she gently disentangled herself from Shepard's arms, planted a grateful kiss on the human's forehead, and regally sat down on her couch. "Thank you. Now, name your second task for me."

Shepard dusted herself up from the floor, and took a seat opposite to the Consort. "I have a theory that whatever this Conduit is, Saren will use it to launch an ambush here at the Citadel. It's the same tactics the Reapers used against the Protheans. Citadel is the heart of the galaxy. It makes perfect sense to attack here first. There are thirteen million people living here, that's thirteen million lives at stake, Sha'ira. I can't ask the Council to mobilize its fleet based on one human's vision and gut instinct."

"The Destiny Ascension…"

"Is one dreadnought. Saren has one too. It's the Reaper that attacked Eden Prime. Saren also has an army of geth on his side. _When_ he attacks the Citadel, Destiny Ascension will be the first thing he shoots down. You know what a Reaper can do. You've seen it. Destiny Ascension will not stand a chance in an ambush."

Sha'ira let out a groan of dismay. "So there is no hope."

"There _is_ hope." Shepard spoke with conviction. "One Reaper, Sha'ira. Just one. The machine may be sentient, but it is not unbreakable. And we know it's coming here." Shepard moved forward and knelt in front of the Consort, holding her hands in her own. "I need your help. Use your influence. Convince C-Sec to organize an evacuation drill for the whole Citadel to minimize civilian casualties. Sway the Hierarchy, the Matriarchy, the Union, the Alliance, any military power you can influence to arrange for more garrison. We must be ready for Saren's army. Most importantly, make the Council heed my warning about the Reapers when I have more than just my vision to impress them. Servants of the Reapers will seek to discredit me. We must not let them succeed. United, we stand a fighting chance. Divided, we are all doomed."

Sha'ira put her hands on either sides of Shepard's face, studying the woman's ernest expression fondly. "You really do believe that, don't you? Very well, Commander. I see your pain, your strength, your will, and your love. You are an indomitable force that inspires hope in your friends and strikes fear in your foes. You have my unlimited support. You lead, and I shall follow. May Goddess guide you, Shepard."

"Thank you." Shepard inclined her head, feeling a flood of relief that her gamble had paid off. With the Consort on her side, it would make her quest to unite the races that much easier.

"So, this _Liara_ you spoke of. She was the young asari maiden trailing behind you with those doe eyes, am I right? Tell me more about her." Sha'ira asked with a grin, and let out a peal of laughter at the startled deer-in-the-headlight look on Shepard's face.

x-x-x

 _Scuttlebutt sure travels fast._

As luck would have it, Private Fredricks ran into Liara and Tali outside the Consort's chamber and learned of their Commander's hour long private audience with the Consort. Not only that, Nelyna the acolyte greeter also informed the marine just how much Shepard had impressed the Consort.

"Sha'ira insisted that the Commander Shepard should be placed on our preferred client list." Was the exact words, according to the extremely envious Private, who was currently regaling the tale of their Commander's apparent sexual prowess in the Normandy's mess hall to everyone who cared to listen.

That meant _everyone_.

"Oh man, it must be an N7 thing. Stamina, I tell you. The Commander is deceptively strong. She was trained as a vanguard. She can toss people around not only with her muscles, but also with her mind. Get it, tossing?" Joker winked suggestively at the rapidly paling Private Fredricks. When he noticed his friend's stiff posture, the lewd grin froze on his face. "She is right behind me, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is." Shepard drawled.

"I am so dead." Joker hung his head.

"You think?"

"No, ma'am. Apologies, ma'am." Joker snapped to attention with a slight tremor in his voice.

"Break's over. Back to your post." Shepard spoke curtly without raising her voice.

"Yes, ma'am. Right away, ma'am." Joker promptly obeyed. His creaky legs carried him away as fast as physically possible.

Shepard gave the quiet room a slow once over. Everyone was suddenly very interested in their own meal. She grabbed a tray of food from the chow line and sat down next to Ashley.

"Sorry, ma'am. I should've stopped them before you got here. They were out of line." Ashley began.

Shepard shook her head. "The day marines stop talking about sex is the day the sun implodes."

"I hear you, skipper."

They then moved on to safer topics, such as speculations on Admiral Kahoku's missing marines in the Artemis Tau system, and geth incursions in the Armstrong clusters. Shepard was only paying half of her attention on the discussion. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed Liara was sitting with Tali in a corner table, pushing food around her plate instead of eating it. Tali did not even tried to eat. She just sat there.

Ashley noticed what, or who, Shepard was looking at. "They have been like this since they got back from the Citadel. Did something happen?"

"No idea. I'll talk to them." She said, and got up to put her tray away.

x-x-x

"Shepard, you want to see me?"

"Yes. Close the door." Shepard closed the report she was reading and gestured Tali to take a seat.

Tali sat, twisting her hands together anxiously.

Shepard recognized the nervous habit, but chose not to comment on it. "You seem down. I notice you weren't eating. If you are not feeling well, you should go see Dr. Chakwas. She can prescribe some medication to boost your immune system."

"No, it's not that." Tali wave her hands. "It's… I'm sorry, Shepard. I did something I'm not supposed to. And now I don't know how to fix it."

Shepard frowned. "What did you do?" She asked.

"I think I've upsetted Liara terribly." Tali confessed.

That was not what Shepard expected to hear. "How so?"

Tali started twisted her hands again. "I was curious about the Consort, so I asked Liara to explain to me the role of a Consort and asari culture in general. She told me that a Consort was considered a very powerful and well respected figure in asari society. Sha'ira, especially, was held in great esteem. She was known to be a woman with remarkable compassion and a generous spirit. To be favoured by Sha'ira was considered a great honour."

Shepard waited for the part where Tali offended Liara, but the quarian stopped there. "And?" Shepard prompted.

Tali tilted her head. "And then she looked sad all of a sudden. My curiosity regarding the Consort had upsetted her."

Shepard blinked. "Is that it?"

"No. There is more. And then Private Fredricks saw us sitting on the bench outside the Consort's chamber. He came by to say hi, and he asked us what we were doing sitting there. I told him we were waiting for you to finish your business with Consort Sha'ira. He looked very surprised. He didn't think you would cheat on Lieutenant Alenko."

Shepard palmed her face. "I think I know what the problem is. You didn't do anything wrong, Tali."

"I didn't?" Tali looked unconvinced. "Forgive me, Shepard. This is very new to me. Back on the Flotilla, I didn't have many friends. When I left for the Pilgrimage, people always treated me like a beggar or a thief. Very few people treated me as an equal. You and Liara are among the few who do. I would loath to damage our friendship by doing something stupid."

"Trust me, Tali. You didn't upset Liara. I did."

"Really? I don't get it, but I'll trust your judgement." Tali said, and left the captain's cabin with more questions than she came in with.

Shepard didn't waste time. After Tali left, she went straight to the med bay office to clear up this misunderstanding with Liara.

The resident Prothean expert was staring blankly at the monitor screen when Shepard entered the room. Liara was so distracted, she didn't notice Shepard's presence until the Commander cleared her throat to get her attention. The unexpected noise made her jump a foot high with a startled squeak. "Goddess! Commander Shepard! I didn't hear you come in."

"Just want to see how you are doing."

"I am doing well. Thank you for asking." Liara said quickly.

Shepard studied Liara's familiar features for a long moment. Liara squirmed under her intense gaze.

"Liara." Shepard spoke her name softly.

The maiden flinched. "Y-Yes, Commander?"

Shepard looked straight into Liara's nervous blue eyes and stated simply, "I am not in a relationship with Lieutenant Alenko. I have never dated any men. I did not have sex with Consort Sha'ira."

Liara's eyes widen in disbelief. "You _refused_ the Consort?"

"I did."

Liara frowned in confusion. "Why would you do that? And why are you telling me all this?"

Shepard didn't answer. She just stood there, waiting patiently with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh." Liara finally caught on after a minute or two. "Oh!" The most amazing shade of lavender spread across her cheeks. Liara looked incredibly flustered.

"You can call me Shepard, or Jane when we are alone, if you want to." Shepard said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Liara's breath hitched. Shepard recognized the sign and had to fight the urge to caress Liara's neck fold with a finger. _The sounds she could tease out of her if she just…_

 _Patience._

"There is no rush. I can wait." Shepard said, smiling indulgently at the way Liara practically glowed with happiness. "Meanwhile, we can get to know each other better. Tell me about yourself."

x-x-x

A/N: I assume readers of this story have played the games before, that's why I've skipped over a lot of details because that's not what I want to write about. I don't want to regurgitate in-game dialogues word for word unless it serves a purpose.


	2. I-02: Feros

Book I - Chapter 2: Feros

Ashley climbed out of the Mako, ripped off her helmet and tossed it on the cargo bay floor, furious. "When I get my hands on the bastard who did this… What kind of coward sticks a Alliance distress signal in a middle of fucking thresher maw nest to kill marines?"

Kaidan picked up Ashley's helmet from the floor and set it aside on a workstation. "You've said it yourself. They are cowards." He looked at the shore party with sympathy. "Yikes. Thresher maw acid eats through shield like nothing else."

Garrus exited the still smoking Mako with unsteady feet, all the while muttering to himself. "If thresher maws didn't get us, then someday Shepard's driving will." His mandibles fell open when he saw the state the Mako was in. "Look at what the bad worm did to you!"

Shepard jumped out of the vehicle with several charred dog tags in her hand. "Lieutenant Alenko, start the repair. Garrus will assist you. I need the Mako for another drop soon."

"Right away, ma'am." Kaidan saluted and got to work.

Shepard made her way up to the conference room and turned on the FTL comm consol. "Joker, take the Normandy to Hades Gamma. And patch me through Alliance channel. Contact Admiral Kahoku."

"Aye, aye, Commander. ETA to Hades Gamma in 28 hours. Patching you through. Admiral Kahoku is online. Joker out."

Kahoku's voice came through the speaker. The poor man sounded hopeful. "Commander Shepard! It's good to hear from you so soon. Have you found my men yet?"

"I'm sorry, Admiral. They are killed in action."

"How?" Kahoku asked. Shock was plain in his voice.

"Thresher maws. Your men didn't have a chance."

"... I see. I will need to tell their families."

"Admiral, will you be on the Citadel for the next month? I have your men's dog tags. I would like to give them to you personally." Shepard asked.

"... Yes, I am stationed on the Citadel for the next three months. Thank you, Commander. Kahoku out."

Shepard turned off the comm, looked at the dog tags in her hand, and sighed. She sincerely hoped she had done the right thing.

x-x-x

Three weeks went by, they had managed to clear out a few merc camps, boarded a couple derelict freighters, and dealt with a terrorist group, but still found no sign of Saren or his geth army. When Garrus started grumbling, Shepard decided to give him what he wanted and ordered Joker to plot a course to the Armstrong nebula.

"Commander, remind me next time when I complain about mercs. Geth is much more annoying." Garrus' voice came through the helmet comm amidst the sharp cracks of sniper rifle going off.

Shepard peaked out from a corner and biotic lifted a geth hopper off the ground, making it flail uselessly in the air. Two shotgun blasts later, the thing was slag. "Garrus, balcony. Tali, cover fire. Juggernaut!"

While her squad focused on the geth raining down fire from above, Shepard spotted a couple Destroyers sneaking up on them from their flank. With a twist of her wrist, she formed a singularity between the two, pulled them out from their hiding place, and threw them back with enough force that they died instantly upon impact.

"That's the last of it." Garrus reported after the Juggernaut went down. "I hope. This is the fifth geth outpost we've seen in this nebula.

"The Alliance will increase patrol in this region, I don't think the geth will be a problem again, unless they are the vanguard of an organized invasion force." Shepard said. "Search the area. We might be able to find out why they came here."

The screen from one of the terminal flickered on. A melancholic singing voice floated out of the terminal like a disembodied ghost. Tali whipped her head around toward the screen as if slapped. "Quarian?!" She rushed toward the terminal and began downloading data to her Omni-tool as fast as she could.

"Wow. Is that what a quarian looks like without the suit? I didn't know you have head fur like humans do." Garrus studied the screen with interest.

"She is singing a lament. She mourns her lover. Without him, her heart is cold and her soul is empty." Tali explained, perplexed at what she was seeing. "This vid is at least three hundred years old. According to the signal, this is being transmitted behind the Perseus Veil. I don't understand. Why would the geth bother to set up five outposts just to play this vid on loop? What's the point?"

Shepard clenched her jaw as she endured a wave of sadness at the memory of Legion and his ridiculous N7 armor piece. "Does it have to have a point? Sometimes people do irrational things just because they feel like it."

Tali stared at the Commander like she was completely insane. "Geth are not people. They are machines. They don't feel. They can't like anything."

"Then how do you explain this?" Shepard pointed at the quarian singer on the screen. "You told me that the geth can evolve on their own. Can they not evolve to feel? I didn't know they have the concept of religion until I found out they worship the Reapers as their gods. I would say that's pretty irrational."

Tali looked completely stunned. "No, Shepard. Geth are evil. They slaughtered billions of my people and drove us from our home. You can't ask me to sympathize with our enemies!"

"Whoa, Tali. I'm not picking a fight. I'm just pointing out they are behaving rather strangely. Calm down."

Tali looked down in shame. "Sorry, Shepard. I didn't mean to blow up like that. It's just… This is a sensitive subject for me."

"That's alright. I understand. Here, maybe this will cheer you up." Shepard handed Tali an OSD. "I found a cache of data files in another terminal. It contained a lot of information regarding geth evolutionary history since they went into hiding. I made this copy for you so you can bring it back to the Flotilla."

With a shriek of delight, Tali tackled the Commander in a bear hug. "Thank you! Thank you, Shepard!"

"You're welcome, kid. Now let's get out of here. Our next stop is the Citadel. If you want to thank me, you can buy me a drink."

x-x-x

Shepard lounged bonelessly in one of the chair in the med bay office, and wondered out loud, "It got me thinking. What is a soul?" She pulled up her right hand and examined it critically. "I mean, look at this hand. With all the crazy stunts I've pulled over the years, it's got to be at least half cybernetic by now. What if one day I do something really stupid and ended up losing the whole hand, and the surgeon decides to attach a completely synthetic hand on my wrist? Is this still my hand?"

"Yes." Liara answered without a moment of delay. She took the said hand into her own and lightly traced the rough knuckles with the tip of her fingers.

Shepard stopped breathing.

"Fascinating. I would never know your hand is part cybernetic if you have not told me." Liara's scholarly side surfaced. She examined each fingers, caressing each digit lovingly.

It was very difficult for Shepard to stay still and not make a sound.

"This is the most advanced cybernetic enhancement I've seen." Liara marveled, tilting her head with a curious glint in her eyes. She leaned forward and pressed her cheek against Shepard's hand like a cat asking to be petted. "It's soft, it's warm, it feels completely natural to me. Enhanced neurofeedback for precision and speed with standard accelerometers implant for the haptic interface?" She guessed.

Shepard swallowed. "Amongst other things."

Liara gave her a questioning look.

Shepard let out a lazy grin, pull her hand back, and slowly stood up from her seat.

Liara looked up from where she was sitting, her gaze following Shepard's face. Her eyes went round in surprise when Shepard put her hands on the armrests, and leaned in. Liara felt a dangerous aura suddenly cloaked the Commander, and she couldn't help but sit back into her chair with a sharp inhale.

"Liara." Shepard purred against the side of the maiden's neck, lips not quite touching, but her breaths tickled Liara's sensitive neck fold like a feather.

Liara let out an involuntary shudder. The air around her sudden felt heavy and charged. "Y-yes?" Her voice came out an octave higher than usual.

Shepard grinned triumphantly at the sound. "Behave." She commanded with a drawl.

Liara whimpered.

Shepard briefly brushed Liara's chin with the pad of her thumb before straightening up. "I should go." She said, and left while she still could.

x-x-x

"You look happy." Ashley said carefully, as if she half expected the Commander to be offended by the offhanded comment.

Shepard noticed the caution in Ashley's voice and looked up from her Omni-tool. The Gunnery Chief had paused her task of maintaining rifles at the armory workstation and was now regarding her with concern.

"Should I _not_ be happy?" Shepard asked with puzzlement plain on her face.

Ashley looked like she had tasted her boot in her mouth. "Sorry, ma'am. Forget what I said."

Shepard sighed. "Williams, I'm not gonna bite your head off. What is it?"

Ashley grimaced. "It's… not my place. I shouldn't have said anything. Me and my big mouth."

"Just spit it out." Shepard crossed her arms impatiently.

"Ok, ok. This is awkward." Ashley scratched the back of her neck, looking very uncomfortable. "So, um, I'm just, well… concerned, I guess. Is everything alright with you and Lieutenant Alenko? Not that it's any of my business, but scuttlebutt has it that there is trouble in paradise, if you get what I'm saying."

Shepard's jaw dropped open. It took her a moment to close her mouth. "What?"

Ashley made a vague gesture with her hands. "You know, couples fighting. Again, not my business. I just notice that you've been avoiding him, and he seems depressed about it."

Shepard closed her eyes and prayed for patience. "Williams, for the record, we are not dating! For goodness sake, I am not sexually attracted to men!"

Now it was Ashley's turn to looked gobsmacked. "What? But everyone thinks you are. You are so nice to him."

Shepard threw up her hands in frustration. "I try to be nice to everyone. I'm not a jerk."

"You talk to him all the time."

"Because he is the Staff Lieutenant of this ship! It's my job."

"But he really likes you."

"Doesn't mean I have to like him back." Shepard rolled her eyes before shooting Ashley a flat stare. "Look, I'm not avoiding Alenko, I'm just spending more time with Liara. If you must know, we are dating."

"Her?" Ashley actually looked scandalized. "You are dating an asari?'

"Problem?" Shepard asked with a clear edge of warning in her voice.

"Not at all." Ashley answered quickly. A smirk crossed her face. "I see. No wonder you look so happy lately. It's always the quiet ones, eh? Should I ask her about her sex life? It could be illuminating."

Shepard groaned. "Don't push it, Williams. Liara is not used to teasing. Good natured or otherwise."

"Come on, at least tell me how she is in bed comparing to the Consort. Throw a girl a bone. You've said so yourself, that the day marines stop talking about sex is the day the sun implodes." Ashley nudged.

Shepard gave her a dirty look. "I mean it, you can't tease her. That innocent and socially awkward thing with her? That's not an act. She has never dated anyone before. She's lived a very sheltered life. I am doing my damnest not to push her. We are taking it slow."

Ashley's jaw dropped. "You mean, she's never…"

"Yes."

"Wow. And she is one hundred and six."

"Yeah, I know."

"So this is serious."

"Yes."

Ashley considered her options. "… That means Alenko is available."

Shepard's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Huh."

Shepard resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. "Dismissed, Chief."

"Ma'am."

x-x-x

Shepard's plan to bring the Normandy back to the Citadel for much needed restocking was waylaid by an urgent call from Admiral Hackett. The VI installed an Alliance training ground located on Earth's moon had gone rogue. Shepard knew the truth. In the future, Miranda admitted that Cerberus had hijacked the VI to conduct illegal AI research with Alliance resources. The rogue VI Hannibal was the predecessor for EDI.

Shepard did not want to kill the VI.

"Tali, is it possible to extract the VI from the terminal without damaging the thing?" Shepard ask when she was one power junction away from permanently destroying it.

The quarian approached the terminal and examinated the hardware carefully. "It is. But why? It's safer to just blow it up."

"A VI doesn't spontaneously go berserk, Tali. Something triggered it. Either that, or it's been sabotaged. If that's the case, I want evidence."

"That makes sense. I'll need time. This could be tricky."

"Carry on then. Wrex and I will watch for more drones." Shepard said, and turned her attention toward the door.

Wrex went up next to the Spectre and stood by her side with a shotgun fixed at the door. "You are one strange human, Shepard."

"How so?" Shepard regarded the krogan with a questioning look. It was unusual for Wrex to initiate a conversation with anyone. The old warlord had always been aloof on board the Normandy. She had to shoot him herself last time because she failed to talk him down. Maybe this time she would not have to if she could make him trust her more.

Wrex cracked open a smug toothy grin. "This, precisely. You know things, Shepard, and you have plans for us all, but you play dumb. You scheme like an asari Matriarch, and you have the quad of a krogan battlemaster. I know what you're doing."

"What exactly do you think I'm doing then?" Shepard was intrigued.

"You are building a team, gathering resources, bunkering down for the storm. Something's coming, something big. I can feel it in my guts. This is more than just Saren and his geth. You want us to gird our loins when the storm hits."

Shepard stared at the krogan, speechless at his insight.

Wrex snorted. "People assume krogans are dumb beasts. Most of the time they would be right. I am not most krogans."

"Obviously." Shepard said with a knowing smirk. "So what tipped you off?"

Wrex thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. "Nothing, really. It's just my gut feeling. I don't ignore it. That's how I survived for so long."

"Good strategy." Shepard agreed.

"Hasn't steered me wrong before. It's telling me that I should really pay attention to you, Shepard. I wonder why."

Shepard was quiet for a moment. "Do you trust me?" She asked

The warlord grinned widely, and then his grin turned into a full belly gaffle.

Shepard stared at him.

It took him a minute to stop laughing. "You helped me get my piece of crap family armor back, Shepard. You've earnt it. Just don't wave it around."

"I got it, Commander! You need to look at this!" Tali's excited voice came through the helmet comm.

"Nice work, Tali. I wasn't sure it could be done." Shepard studied the extracted harddrive with admiration. Even though she was quite proficient in electronics herself, Tali's technical skill was on a whole 'nother level.

"That's not what I want you to look at. This is what I'm talking about!" Tali pointed at a rectangular box the size of her head. "This is a blue box, a highly specialized quantum computer. I could tell from the way it's wired into the terminal that it's not part of the original design. You don't need a blue box for VI. Someone tampered with the console and installed an AI into the system!"

"We are taking them both. Make sure they are inert before we bring it onboard. The Alliance either intentionally broke the law, or it's been sabotaged at a high level. Better keep this under wrap. That's an order." Shepard commanded.

Tali nodded solemnly. "Aye, aye, Commander."

Wrex acknowledged her order with a grunt. "Got it."

"We'll keep them in the med bay office. I don't want them anywhere near our critical systems. I want you to scrub the VI and see if you can find anything useful. Liara can give you a hand. We'll leave the blue box alone for now. It's too dangerous."

Tali completely agreed.

"Start prepping. Wrex, set the charges to blow the terminal. Let them think we've blasted everything to shreds. I'll bring the Mako around."

x-x-x

Normandy was due for a slew of maintenance after over a month of serving in combat situations. For one thing, their stock on Mako parts was running dangerously low, no thanks to those thresher maws. Their stay in the Citadel was going to be a very busy three days. XO Pressly was an old hand at the logistic side of running a ship, so Shepard left it to him to oversee the operation. As for the Commander herself, she was required to attend to a few tasks on the Citadel personally.

"Alenko, Williams, suit up and see me in conference." Shepard ordered through CIC's comm system.

When the two showed up in the conference room, the Commander was already sitting in one of the chairs, waiting silently in her N7 Onyx light armor. Shepard gave the two subordinates an evaluating look, before she signaled them to take a seat. Even after they sat down, Shepard kept scrutinizing them without uttering a word for a very long time.

"I am debating how much I should trust you two." Shepard finally spoke. It was not an order, or a question, so the two Alliance trained marines knew not to interrupt when their superior was talking.

"Lieutenant Alenko. Tell me why I should trust you." Shepard ordered.

Kaidan snapped to attention. "I am an Alliance marine. You are my superior officer. It is my job to watch your back, ma'am. I am loyal."

Shepard tilted her head. "Perhaps." She commented, and turned her attention to Ashley. "Gunnery Chief Williams, Tell me why I should trust you."

Ashley replied with complete conviction, "It's in my blood, ma'am. We Williams have served in the Alliance for generations. We are known to be stubborn and loyal to a fault, ma'am."

"I know you two are honorable, loyal, and capable. Your integrity were never in doubt. The problem is, I am not sure I can trust you to do the right thing." Shepard studied the slightly offended look on their faces, and decided to elaborate. "Let's say you've uncovered a piece of sensitive information. It's a laundry list of atrocities committed by the Alliance at the highest level. This information is irrefutable, accurate, detailed, and gruesome. If this information ever becomes public, humanity will be reviled as monsters by the entire galactic community. What are you going to do with this information? You are an honorable man, Lieutenant. What would you do?"

Kaidan opened his mouth for a moment, and snapped it close.

"What about you, Chief? You are a woman of God. What is the morally right thing to do?"

Ashley looked pained, and shook her head.

Shepard pushed again. "Will you kill one innocent to save a thousand more? What about killing a million to save a trillion?"

"That's not fair." Ashley protested.

"I'm not trying to be fair." Shepard said quietly.

Kaidan was a bit sharper than Ashley. "Commander, this is not just a mental exercise on morality, isn't it?"

Shepard shook her head slowly.

All the blood drained from Ashley's face. "Oh God. The thresher maws."

Shepard nodded.

Ashley was suddenly furious. "The Alliance would never kill their own soldiers!"

Shepard looked at the woman's red face with sympathy. "Williams… Ashley. Listen. This is not an order, this is a personal request. Don't do anything rash. Sit on this information. There are traitors infiltrating the Alliance at _every_ level. They are monitoring all Alliance communications as we speak, and they have access to everything. Troop movement, ship schematic, personal background, medical history, psych eval, you name it, they have access to it. One wrong step, one wrong word to the wrong person at the wrong time, and you will bust our counter-espionage effort wide open. People are going to die."

The Commander warned them with a hushed tone. "This is bigger than you can imagine. I'm not talking about a few operations gone wrong. Hell, I'm talking about atrocity after atrocity being committed systematically, and methodically. I could list a few. They set thresher maws on human colonists and marines alike to study their toxin. They poisoned pregnant women with eezo to create biotic babies and then they stole them from their mothers to run experiments on them. They tortured and drugged innocents to create brainwashed shocktroopers. The list goes on. They did all this in the name of advancing humanity."

Ashley look like she was about to cry, and Kaidan looked like he was about to be sick.

"I do want to trust you two, otherwise I wouldn't be telling you any of this. I didn't have to. I chose to." Shepard took a deep breath and stood up. "Now, I am going to see Admiral Kahoku and give him his men's dog tags. I am going to tell him how sorry I am about this unfortunate _accident_. I am doing this to save his life. Admiral Kahoku is a man of integrity, a hero to many. If he ever suspect that his men were set up to die by Alliance black op, then he will charge in like a krogan in a bloodrage and get himself killed. I absolutely will not allow this to happen. Am I clear?"

Both Kaidan and Ashley jumped up and gave her a crisp salute. "Crystal, ma'am."

x-x-x

Commander Shepard stared at the bartender at the embassy lounge, not quite believing her ears. "Can you repeat that again?"

"Quite the unexpected news, I understand. I was shocked when I heard it too." The turian bartender said with a chuckle. "The Consort had decided to push all her schedules back one month, including her VIPs, to take a vacation in Illium. She is not due back for another week. Rumor has it that the Consort has finally found the one to bond wrist with. Can you believe that?"

"That's… unbelievable." Shepard agreed, and absentmindedly chugged down the bottle of Canadian Lager in her hand. She felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards the Consort, and she wasn't sure what to do with herself. When she asked Sha'ira to deliver a letter to Aethyta, she had never thought the Consort would take it upon herself to deliver it personally, and then spend the whole month overseeing the preparation without being asked to.

"You are… not disappointed by the news?" Kaidan asked, sounding very hopeful. His head whipped around in surprise when he felt a sharp kick from Ashley's direction.

The Gunnery Chief gave him a meaningful look. Kaidan was thoroughly perplexed. He didn't speak female.

Shepard was too distracted with her own thoughts to notice the by-play. "Nah. Why would I? Just surprised. This is good news."

Ashley palmed her forehead at the blissful expression on Kaidan's face.

Shepard's Omni-tool pinged. She checked the alert before finishing her drink. "It looks like we have one more stop to make. Sha'ira left me something to pick up at her place. Let's go."

On the way to the Consort's chamber, Kaidan kept giving the Commander apprehensive looks from behind. It was starting to exasperate Ashley.

"It sounds like you two are close." Kaidan finally commented.

Shepard shrugged and gave a vague answer. "I've only met her once. Sha'ira is a good person and an excellent listener. I consider her a friend."

Ashley decided enough was enough, so she went and ripped the bandage off, so to speak. "Liara would be happy to know the Consort is not on the Citadel during our shore leave. She did get jealous last time."

"Liara knows we are just friends. I would never cheat on her." Shepard explained, a bit put off by the insinuation.

Kaidan flinched as if someone just kicked his puppy.

Shepard finally noticed. "Problem, Lieutenant?"

"No, ma'am. Just surprised." Kaidan managed to say that with a straight face.

"Why? Do I sense intentions toward Liara there? Should I remind you she is taken?" Shepard narrowed her eyes at the guy with a huge crush on her and proverbially twisted the knife.

"Not at all, ma'am. I'll keep in mind you saw her first."

"Then we won't have a problem." Shepard smirked.

Ashley pinched the bridge of her nose.

At the lobby of the chamber, acolyte Nelyna's eyes lit up in excitement when she spotted Shepard. "Spectre! It is good to see you again. Sha'ira insisted to have me deliver this small token to you as an apology for not being here to give you her personal attention." Nelyna took out a long wooden box with blue ribbons tied around it. "It's a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy. Sha'ira's favourite. 'For the memories we shared', she said."

The Commander grinned. She recognized a coded message when she heard it. "Please pass on my thanks to the Consort. It will be my term to bring her a bottle to share next time I see her."

"I'm sure she will be delighted to hear that, Spectre." Nelyna gave her a sultry look. "I am sure you must be disappointed that Sha'ira is away. All of her acolytes would love to keep you entertained in her stead. No appointment required." She purred while her eyes raked over Shepard's physique with clear intention.

"That wouldn't be necessary. I'm on a very tight schedule." Shepard said quickly. She had a pretty good guess just what kind of scenarios the acolytes had made up in their heads regarding her last encounter with Sha'ira. The last thing she needed was a hoard of hungry asari acolytes putting her on a pedestal to be worshipped as a sex goddess…

Shepard zoned out for a moment.

"I should go. Goodbye." The Commander said hurriedly, and fled.

x-x-x

They plotted a course to the Theseus system as soon as the ship was ready.

Shepard had had a very long internal debate with herself regarding Saren. With her foreknowledge, chasing the rogue Spectre all over the galaxy was a completely pointless exercise if all she wanted was to stop Saren and defeat Sovereign. She just needed to sit tight in the Council tower and wait for them to show up. She already knew they had enough firepower to shoot down one Reaper.

She could speak from experience that short of a full on Reaper invasion, it was simply impossible to get access to Vendetta, the Prothean VI housed in the Temple of Athame in Thessia. That route was closed to her.

For now.

No, she needed to let Saren lead them to Ilos, even if it meant allowing the attack to happen, and intentionally putting millions of lives in danger. She needed the exact coordinates of the Mu relay to go to Ilos, to keep Vigil alive so the Council _might_ be convinced of the Reapers and the Collectors before they came in force.

She was going to sacrifice millions to save trillions.

Timing was key to the success of her mad schemes. That was why the Commander had been analysing a stupendous amount of data on her own to determine the best possible timing to execute all her plans. This task was made ten times more difficult when she knew she was under surveillance.

But she managed, just in the nick of time. Communication around Feros had completely shut down since yesterday, which meant Saren had acquired the Cipher and ordered the geth to clean up after him.

If she hurried, she would be able to save more colonists than last time.

Shepard rubbed her eyes tiredly. She had been staring at the monitor screen for hours. This was hard for her. She could stay on her feet and fight for fifty hours without sleep or stims, but reading shipping manifests and docking logs for five hours completely drained her. It took her that long to confirm that Saren had left the system. She dreaded to think how much more time it would take for her to pinpoint Cerberus' labs in the Voyager cluster.

The door to her cabin hissed open. "Shepard?" Liara was waiting outside the room, holding a tray of food while looking at her with concern.

Shepard looked up from where she was slouching, momentarily disoriented. "Ah, sorry. I completely forgot the time. Come on in. Hey, you brought food. Bacons and eggs! You're the best." She absentmindedly pecked Liara on the lips before taking the tray from her hands and setting it down on a table.

It was not until she sat down and had a sip of coffee did she realize what she had done.

Liara stood frozen at the door with a hand over her mouth.

Shepard put her coffee mug down. "That's not how I planned our first kiss to be like. I swear."

Liara just stared at her.

Shepard let out a chuckle. She came over to Liara and tugged her lightly on her elbow. Liara stepped in, and the door closed behind them.

"That was not how I imagined our first kiss to be either." Liara said softly, leaning into Shepard's arms in an intimate hug. "I assumed there would be flowers and candle lights, maybe even a song. I imagined it to be quite romantic."

"Well, I have a plate of scrambled egg simulant, lab-grown bacon, and half a cup of black coffee. I could sing, but you wouldn't like it. Would that do?"

"Hmm…" Liara tilted her head, and pretended to think about it. "I am not sure, Commander. Maybe we should conduct a field study. You should kiss me, and I will let you know if it's any good. If it is, then that means it's romantic enough."

"I like your idea, Dr. T'Soni. Very scientific." Shepard agreed with a smirk, and proceeded to test it out.

The kiss started out soft and slow. It was meant to entice. However Liara was less reserved than Shepard anticipated. Impatient with how Shepard's tongue always seemed to dart away before she could catch it between her lips, Liara pushed forward, chasing after her prize.

Shepard let out a deep chuckle and took a small step back. Liara followed. The way the sound vibrated against her lips set a tremor down her spine. "Quit teasing." Liara protested, before she tried to deepen the kiss again. This time, she made sure to move her hands up from Shepard's shoulders to the back of her head, tangling her fingers into the woman's short red hair for better grip.

What she didn't expect was to be suddenly lifted up and spun around. A giggle of pure delight spilled out of her lips before she could stop herself. "Shepard!" Liara squealed in a very undignified manner. "Put me down." She pouted.

"As you wish." The Commander replied with a cocky grin before she fell backward into her bed, taking Liara with her. "Hey, look, you're down. And I'm trapped. You win." Shepard teased lightly, but her eyes were dark and smoldering.

Liara's tongue peaked out briefly to lick her suddenly dry lips. "I've caught you. I win." She repeated, mesmerized by the way Shepard's green eyes glowed in the dark. "No more teasing." Liara warned.

Shepard's answering grin could only be described as impetuous. "We'll see."

Liara decided to take that as a challenge. Her strategy was to kiss Shepard silly to show her up. Her plan backfired spectacularly. Even though she was physically on top of the human, Shepard was able to take control of the kiss. Very soon, Liara found herself at the mercy of the Commander. Shepard never stopped teasing, always leaving Liara wanting a little more but never quite getting it. It was the most frustrating, most pleasant, and most gratifying experience Liara had ever had.

For some reason experiencing this perfect moment of happiness made Liara want to cry.

"There is something compelling about you, Shepard." Liara curled up against Shepard, her head resting on her chest. In this position, she could feel the steady thumps of Shepard's heartbeats against her cheek.

The Commander gave the asari maiden a little squeeze and pressed a kiss on top of her head. "I feel drawn to you as well."

Liara raised her head up to look into Shepard's green eyes. "With everything that is happening right now, I cannot help but think I am being selfish. It is all happening so fast. Should we even be doing this? It feels wrong to be happy when the galaxy is going up in flame."

"If anyone's being selfish, that person would be me, Liara." Shepard admitted with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Sometimes it feels like I'm drowning in all the crazies. You are the one good thing in my life, and I am too afraid to let you go." She held Liara tight and rolled her over, their positions now reversed. Letting her control slip for a brief moment, Shepard kissed the woman she loved a little rougher than she previously allowed herself to. She didn't pull back until she felt Liara arching her back, rolling her hips helplessly underneath her.

"You have no idea how much you mean to me." Shepard rested her forehead against Liara's, guiltily enjoying the sensation of her lover's soft feminine body squirming under her own with some apprehension. "And right now, you are making me feel like a cradle robber."

"I am more than three times your age, Shepard." Liara refuted breathlessly. "Humans have such a strange fixation on age. I could have very literally snatched you from your cradle if I had met you a few decades earlier."

"It's a figure of speech. What I meant was that I'm more experienced. It feels like I'm corrupting you."

Liara smiled sweetly at Shepard, her blue eyes filled with trust. "We asaris have a very different view on sex than humans do. It is regarded as pure and transcendental, not shameful. A perfect union of bodies and spirits is to be celebrated as divine. As for your worry about 'corrupting' me? I am just glad at least one of us knows what we are doing. It is better than having two clueless idiots bumble around in the dark, no?"

Shepard laughed. "I suppose." She gave the maiden's slightly swollen lips one last kiss before she sat up. "Feel free to stay here a bit longer if you wish. I know you don't like sleeping in the pod. There is work to be done. I should go."

x-x-x

Ashley found the Commander doing pull ups in the cargo bay. The woman had rigged a simple setup with crates and an I beam. Judging from the amount of sweat soaking through her clothes, she had been at it for a while.

"Stir crazy?" Ashley asked.

"A bit." Was the reply.

Ashley leaned against the hull as she studied the look of intense concentration on Shepard's face. A moment later, she chuckled and shook her head. "Ah, I see."

"Yeah, what?" Shepard asked without stopping her workout routine.

"Remember the story I told you about Sarah and her boyfriend Mike? You are a good woman, Commander. Liara is lucky to have you."

Shepard paused and gave her a puzzled look. "Williams, I have no idea what you are talking about. You are talking nonsense again. Speak plain."

Ashley grinned wickedly at the Commander. "Someone saw you lock lips with Liara before dragging her into your room for an hour long _private meeting_. Now everyone knows not to let their eyes wander when it comes to our resident Prothean expert. You, Commander, are now officially a legend. From blushing maidens to experienced matriarchs, no asari can walk past you without feeling tingles in their crests."

Shepard let go of the I beam and landed on the floor soundlessly. With a subtle wave, she biotic lifted the equipments and placed them back to their storage area. She then turned to give Ashley an even stare. "I don't even know where to begin. Seriously, what the hell?"

"Just repeating what I've heard through the grapevine, ma'am. Don't worry, you have been elevated to godhood. Not disrespectful at all."

Shepard palmed her face.

"It's a good thing, skipper. Think of it this way, no one would dare to hit on Liara again."

Shepard straighten up. "People were hitting on her?"

Ashley put her hands up placatingly. "Not anymore."

"Good." Shepard said, still looking quite peeved. "So, are you here just to update me on scuttlebutt, or are you here for something else?"

"Something else." Ashley said, her expression turned solemn. "I've been thinking about what you said the other day. I'm here to answer your question."

Shepard crossed her arms. "Go on."

"I would do it, but only if it's the last resort. May God grant me strength, I would do it if it must be done."

A slow grin stretched across Shepard's face. She stuck out her hand for Ashley to shake. When the Chief took her hand, she pulled the woman in closer and whispered in her ear, "Welcome to Operation Heracles, Ashley. You are going to help me catch a hellhound. We are Ragnarok."

x-x-x

The crumbling Prothean skyscrapers on Feros was as depressing as Shepard remembered. However, the colony of Zhu's Hope seemed a lot livelier than the last time she visited the place. According to Fai Dan, there were currently sixty-two colonist bunkered down in the small settlement.

That would be sixty-two people she needed to knock out. There was no way she could carry enough anti-Thorian nerve grenades to do that.

Shepard called in through her helmet comm. "Shore party to Normandy. Something fishy is going on in this colony, and I don't like it. The colonists are behaving really strangely. Alenko, William, Garrus, suit up and be on standby. In case of riot, disable the civilians. Do not kill anyone unless you have to. Garrus, you're familiar with crowd control. I want you to lead the Beta squad."

"Aye aye, Commander. Copy that. Non-lethal force only. Garrus out." The former C-Sec replied through the comm.

The Commander turned to Wrex and Liara, her squadmates for this mission. "Keep your eyes peeled. There is something… unsettling about this place."

Wrex growled softly. "Agreed."

"There must be a reason why the geth are attacking this place. I think the colonists are hiding something. It could even be another beacon." Liara speculated.

"We'll find out soon enough." Shepard said as she readied her pistol. "But first, let's take out the transmitter in the tunnel. Wrex, take point."

"With pleasure." The warlord grinned toothily.

With two powerful biotics providing support, Wrex plowed through the narrow tunnel like a demented bowling ball. The only minor snag they ran into was the three krogan warriors guarding the transmitter.

Shepard sent them flying with a well placed singularity, and then she warped them so hard she could hear their head plates crack. Before she could put them out of their misery, Liara had finished them off with a pistol.

"I wonder why these krogans have allied with Saren. There was that one in Therum, but apparently there are more." Liara said thoughtfully.

Wrex disagreed. "Saren has no allies. He has tools. No offense."

Liara looked down.

"Let's finish up and get back. I want answers, and I think the best place to get them is at the ExoGeni headquarter. There might even be survivors." Shepard said, and gave Liara's shoulder a quick squeeze. "We will worry about one thing at a time."

"You are right, Shepard. One thing at a time." Liara straightened up and cocked her pistol.

They quickly made their way back to the settlement and braved the skyway in the Mako to get to ExoGeni headquarter with geth raining down from the sky.

Their battle against the geth hoard would have been easier if Tali were on the squad to provide tech support, but Shepard felt it was more important to bring Liara and Wrex along. She wanted Liara to see Shiala and hear from her first hand what indoctrination was like, and she needed to get Wrex suspicious about those krogans clones. Shepard believed the old warlord to be observant enough to realize the depth of Saren's betrayal. She failed Wrex last time because she could not make him see reason. She would not repeat the same mistake again.

Shepard found the small group of ExoGeni staff barricaded in the weight station through radio chatters. Ethan Jeong was as much of an ass as she remembered, so after listening to him spewing garbage about corporate profit one too many times, the the good Commander resorted to the same strategy she had employed on Eden Prime - physical violence. One vicious headbutt later, the corporate lackey was reduced to a boneless heap on the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Juliana Baynham shouted at the Spectre. "You can't just go around whacking people in the head!"

Shepard regarded the older woman coolly. "He is under arrest for obstructing justice. Be glad I didn't shoot him in the kneecap first for pissing me off. In case you didn't pay attention when I introduced myself the first time, I'm Commander Shepard, _Council Spectre_." She narrowed her eyes at all the weapons trained at her with contempt. "Try me."

No one dared.

"Good choice." Shepard snorted. "I need to go now. This asshole better be tied up when I come back with your missing daughter. If she is still alive, I'll find her."

On their way back to the Mako, Shepard noticed Wrex was grinning ear to ear at her. "Yes?" She asked the warlord.

"You would make a good krogan." Wrex said with approval.

Shepard gave him a smirk. "High praise coming from a battlemaster. I'm flattered."

"I can't believe you did that." Liara scrunched up her nose. "It looked painful."

"That was the idea. People like him make me sick." Shepard explained, feeling a bit self-conscious for letting Liara see the ugly side of her so early in their relationship. "Liara, I try, but I can't be nice all the time. It's just not me. I hope you understand."

"Of course I do. I never expect you to be this perfect paragon of virtue. Nor do I wish you to be one." Liara said with a hint of indignation in her smooth voice.

Wrex interrupted the couple. "All this flirting is making my shell itch. Let's kill some geth before I die of old age."

Shepard coughed, but didn't say anything. The team climbed into the Mako and pressed further into the geth infested ruin. They found Juliana's daughter Lizbeth defending herself against a pack of varrens.

Shepard lifted the varrens and threw them against a wall with a wave of her hand. "Lizbeth Baynham?" She asked.

"Y-yes? Who's asking? You're not geth." The nervous woman lowered her pistol.

"Obviously." Wrex grumbled.

"I'm Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. Your mother is looking for you. She is hiding with a group of ExoGeni employees. Now tell me about the geth and why they are here."

Lizbeth looked startled. "Why would I know… Oh. They are probably here for the Thorian."

"Explain." Shepard asked, even though she already knew.

Lizbeth hesitated. "ExoGeni found a sentient alien plant here on Feros. We have been studying it. I don't know why the geth would want it."

Shepard knew she was lying. "Is that it?" She pressed, and the woman flinched.

"The Thorian… is giving the colonists some health issues. I can't... Look, I knew what we did was wrong, but I'm afraid what they would do to me and my mother if I don't cooperate. I've been trying to make up for my mistake. I stayed behind to contact Colonial Affairs, but the geth cut the power and put up this jamming signal to block all communications. Here, take my ID badge. It should get you through restricted areas and access the ExoGeni VI to get the information you need. Please, don't let them get away with this."

Shepard took the ID badge. "Stay out of sight. We'll come back to get you."

They snuck into ExoGeni headquarter through crumbling walls. Originally a derelict Prothean skyscraper, the building sustained heavy damage when the geth latched a dropship on the side of it. Giant claws ripped through the exterior walls as crude anchorage, even as thick power cables came crawling out of the claws like grotesque tentacles. The ground was littered with debris, the walls were falling down, and of course, there were geth everywhere.

They found more krogans, and they were not the smart kind. One was having an argument with the ExoGeni VI and was threatening to turn its virtual ass into actual dust. It was quite entertaining, really. Shepard didn't wait for the dumb clone to finish the conversation and lifted him up from behind. Wrex finished him off in no time.

With Lizbeth's ID badge in hand, the VI was very cooperative to the Commander. The team listened to the VI describing what ExoGeni had done to the colonists with revulsion.

"How could they intentionally let this Thorian enthrall the colonists?" Liara exclaimed.

"Can't say I'm surprised. Worse things have been done in the name of profit." Wrex said.

Shepard took out an OSD and inserted into the VI console. "Copy all available information regarding the Thorian to this disc." She turned to her squadmates. "That's one thing out of the way. We still need to get rid of the jamming signal, and find the Thorian before the geth do."

"There has to be a power source sustaining the force field. It should be coming from the dropship." Liara speculated.

"No power supply, no force field. We better hurry."

They continued through the building, checking each claw of the geth dropship for weakness. Eventually they were able to use the shuttle bay door like a guillotine and cut off one of the claws clamping onto the side of the skyscraper. Unable to support its own weight with one missing claw, the geth frigate slipped down the side of the building and fell to its doom.

"... to shore party. Do you read me? Normandy to Commander Shepard." Joker's frantic voice came through the helmet comm.

"This is Commander Shepard. I need a sitrep."

"The colonists all went crazy all of a sudden. Beta squad is currently engaging civies in the field. They are outnumbered, Commander."

A soft growl escaped through her clenched teeth. "On my way."

No more words needed to be said. Shepard led her team down the building, grabbed Lizbeth, and made a mad dash for the Mako. They briefly stopped by the weight station to drop off Lizbeth and pick up the anti-Thorian gas from Juliana, but they did not waste time. Shepard stepped hard on the gas pedal and blazed down the skyway in the Mako, blasting geth apart with cannon fire while jumping over debris until they reached the garage.

As they approached the settlement on foot, they were intercepted by a hoard of husk-like Thorian creepers. Worse yet, the colonists had turned on them.

"Keep your barrier up! Wrex, move up! Liara, stay back!" Shepard barked.

The creepers were fast. Fortunately, they were also very vulnerable to biotics. As long as they were kept out of arm's reach, they were easy to pick off. The problem was keeping the shield up while being pelted with shots from the colonists. Shepard had to strategically group them together before tossing a gas grenade to knock as many out as she could before they whittled down her shield to nothing.

Shepard ran out of grenades after knocking out about thirty of them, but the colony seemed oddly quiet. She dreaded to find out where the other half of the town went.

"Commander!" Garrus called out, waving his hand at the Alpha squad from behind a barricade. "Perfect timing. We were about to be overrun."

Ashley and Kaidan poke their heads out from behind a barricade, both looking a bit worse for wear.

"Casualty? And give me an update. Start from the beginning." Shepard asked.

"None so far. We set up a strong barricade and kept them out of the docking bay as a precaution. And then they became violent for no reason and tried to rush us, so I had Lieutenant Alenko lift them over the barricade one at a time while Chief Williams and I subdued them." Garrus said.

"By subdued, you mean…"

"Hit them over the head with the butt of a rifle and tied them down with cables. They are being held in the cargo bay and guarded by six armed marines. The brig is too small."

Shepard smiled. "That doesn't sound like standard C-Sec procedure, Garrus."

The former C-Sec twitched his mandibles in good humour. "It isn't. We don't have stun guns onboard, I had to improvise."

Shepard pointed behind her with a thumb. "We knocked out about thirty more of them that way. Get some men to round them up. Same treatment. Have Dr. Chakwas take a look at them. I don't want them harmed, but I want them unconscious."

"Aye, aye, Commander." Garrus replied.

"Garrus, Lieutenant, Chief." Shepard looked at them each in the eyes, and said, "Good work. You've saved a lot of lives today."

The three glowed at her praise.

"Continue with the clean up. We have unfinished business with an ancient alien vegetable." Shepard said, and chuckled at the perplexed look on Garrus' face.

x-x-x

A/N: The Feros scene got a tad longer than I anticipated. But oh well.


	3. I-03: Hope

Book I - Chapter 3: Hope

Shepard had forgotten how disgusting the Thorian looked. Perhaps she had repressed that particularly unpleasant memory.

"And they call _me_ ugly." Wrex muttered.

The tentacle monster's mouth/ear/nose (possibly any orifice) made a wet, slurping noise, and disgorged yet another green-skinned asari clone.

Somewhere in the back of the Commander's mind, she wondered why the clones were clothed, or armed. She didn't dwell on that much.

"Back up!" Shepard yelled, and launched a creeper off the ledge with a throw. There seemed to be an endless supply of those fast zombies.

"Shepard! Behind you!" Liara shouted, and thrust a hand forward to lift the two creepers sneaking up on them.

Wrex rushed in and whacked them with the butt of his shotgun until they exploded in a shower of green goo. Shepard span around just in time to get slimed in the face.

Had she mentioned she really loved her helmet?

The Commander found another node attached to the wall in the next room along with a fresh batch of creepers. She didn't keep track of how many roots were still attached to the wall, but she hoped this would be the last one because she was really tired of those _plants_ already.

Shepard let out a victory cry as the slimy cthulhu fell to its death with a rumbling wail when the last node was destroyed. "I hope this washes off. Ugh. It smells awful." She muttered, wiping the worst of the slime off her helmet with the back of her hand.

One of the Thorian pods attached to the wall burst open. A purple skinned asari fell out with a groan. She stood up and exclaimed loudly, "I'm free! You saved me. I am Shiala, I am… I was Matriarch Benezia's disciple."

Liara perked up at that information.

Shiala then began to explain the indoctrination and why Saren and Benezia sacrificed her to the Thorian, and why the geth were here.

Shepard made a decision. "Give me the Cipher." She asked.

Shiala looked puzzled by her request. "Saren needed the Cipher to understand the vision stored in the Prothean beacon in order to find the Conduit. The Cipher is a collection of Prothean racial memories; it does not contain specific information such as the location of the Conduit…"

Shepard crossed her arms and gave her a look.

Both Liara and Shiala stared at her in shock. "You've seen the vision, just as Saren did! But Saren didn't know that… of course! You were on Eden Prime. You lied in the report to the Council. This is precious." Shiala started laughing.

"Hurry up, will you? It's been a long day, and I'm in desperate need for a shower. You can skip the chant." Shepard said dryly and took off her helmet.

Liara tensed up as Shiala intruded upon Shepard's personal space, brushed away a lock of sweat drenched red hair plaster on her forehead tenderly, and rested the tip of her fingers on Shepard's temples. "Embrace eternity!"

The two stood frozen during the meld. They finally broke apart with a sigh after a few long minutes.

Much to Shepard's relief, the knowledge meld was one direction only. It was like reading a book she had read before. It didn't give her any new information, but it did lend her new perspectives. Plus, the meld did not hurt at all, unlike the first time.

The Commander suspected it had something to do with being rendered down to pure energy, beamed through space-time, and then downloaded through a Prothean beacon. Though there was no way to know for sure.

Shiala regarded the Spectre with awe. "Your mind is... exceptional. A normal human mind is normally resistant to melding, but yours…" She shook her head, not completely sure how to voice her thought. "I've never met anyone like you before, Commander, human, asari, or otherwise. You are unique. You intrigue me."

Shepard backed away from Shiala and put her helmet back on. "O...K. Right. Now that's done, I'm taking you back to the Normandy."

Shiala lowered her head in submission. "As you wish, Commander. I will not run nor hide from my crime."

"You misunderstood. You are a victim of circumstances, I'm not about to arrest you for your bad luck. I'm taking you and all the colonists from Zhu's Hope to a medical facility on Eden Prime. Who knows what kind of side effects there might be? It's better this way."

"You are much too kind, Commander." Shiala said with gratitude.

"Just doing my job." Shepard said.

The clean up took a while. The Commander ordered Ashley to lead a team of five marines to go to the weight station and escort the ExoGeni employees back to the colony. Ashley's team encountered a few geth stragglers and a stray creeper on the skyway, but other than that, it was mostly uneventful, except for one thing.

"Take him to the brig." Shepard looked at the man sporting a very bloody nose with distaste. It was not just her; everyone who had heard what happened was sneering at Ethan Jeong.

"Sorry, Commander. He was ranting and raving and causing a disturbance in general, so I shut him up." Ashley said cheerfully with a raised fist, not looking apologetic at all.

Juliana was shaking with suppressed anger. "How could they do this? What is wrong with those people? They experimented on innocents, and now they want to bomb us all to the stone age to get rid of the evidence?"

"Alright. Everyone, listen up! Pack only the most essential items and load them on the Normand. You have one hour." The Commander announced to the crowd. She then turned to Kaidan and asked, "How are the colonists doing?"

"Some of them are waking up. They seem really happy to have their minds back. Most of them will be sporting bruises, nothing medi-gel won't fix." Kaidan said.

Shepard quickly assessed the situation and rattled off a list of duties, "Garrus, remove the colonists' restrains, but I want you to keep an eye on them. I hate surprises. Wrex, you are on guard duty. Do not leave Dr. Chakwas out of your sight when she is interacting with the civilians. Chief Williams, set up a parameter on the Normandy. Civies will be staying in the cargo bay, and I don't want them anywhere near our military assets. Lieutenant, ask for five volunteers from the colonists and tell them to pack fast. We are not coming back."

"Aye, aye, Commander" The team saluted and went to work.

An hour of frantic activities later, everyone was packed and ready to go. Normandy's cargo bay was small to begin with, and now the space was cramped with seventy-five civies living in it along with their belongings. Ashley had ordered a team of marines to move their own supplies up to the crew deck. It helped, but not by much.

Shepard ordered Joker to set a course to Eden Prime before the team gathered in conference for debrief. Dr. Chakwas was invited to attend as well.

"Dr. Chakwas, please give me an update on the colonists."

The older woman began, "the colonists are in acceptable condition. There have been some complains about headaches that are not related to being knocked in the head, otherwise they are on the mends. There might be other long term health issues related to being mind-controlled by the Thorian, but it will take some time for those symptoms to surface. On the logistic side, our medical supply is running very low. I would suggest we make another trip to the Citadel for restocking after we drop our passengers off on Eden Prime."

"Agreed." Shepard said, and turned to Ashley. "How about our other guests?"

"They are just thankful to be off that awful rock. I don't think ExoGeni treats their low level grunts too well. Besides, we stuffed them in the same area as the colonists. They are outnumbered four to one. They won't make trouble."

"Good. Otherwise it's going to be a long three-day ride." Shepard turned to Kaidan, and asked, "How are our men doing? I know you have to reschedule their shifts, and we are all sharing accommodations."

"Our guys are doing fine. Saving lives is good on morale. They are all with you on this one." Kaidan said.

Shepard shook her head. "I hope the Council see it the same way. I'll probably get reprimanded for getting sidetracked from my mission. Oh well, who cares what they think."

"Still, I can't believe you would lie to the Council about the beacon on Eden Prime, Commander." Kaidan commented.

Shepard massaged her forehead tiredly, praying for patience. Kaidan might be a bit sharper than Ashley, but he was still a dull stone. At least Ashley knew when to shut up and do her duty and not make it a habit to question her commanding officer at every turn. "Garrus, do me a favour and explain things to the Lieutenant for me."

The former C-Sec looked startled at the request, but obeyed quickly. "Saren attempted to destroy Eden Prime not only to remove evidence of his wrong doing, but also to deny everyone else access to the beacon. He didn't want anyone to stop him from finding the Conduit. Commander Shepard, having received the message stored in the beacon before it was destroyed, understood the tactical advantage of concealing this fact. As a Spectre, Saren would have access to her report to the Council. If the Commander had mentioned her vision, Saren would have perceived her as a greater threat. Besides, as real as the vision is, it's not hard evidence, therefore it is not submittable to the Council. They would most likely, as humans might say, laugh the Commander off the Citadel Chamber floor, if the she had done otherwise."

Shepard chuckled. "Well put. You are wasted in C-Sec, Garrus."

The turian's mandibles fluttered in embarrassment. "I have been thinking about reapplying for Spectre training after this is over. You've taught me the value of restrain when you asked me to arrest Dr. Saleon instead of shooting him in the head, but you've also shown me the necessity to think outside the box when you went out of your way to help the colonists instead of killing them all for the sake of the mission."

The Commander then turned her attention towards her much chastised subordinate. "So there you have it, Lieutenant. For future reference, come see me in private if you have any concerns, I am more than willing to discuss them. But do not question my order again. Is that understood?"

Kaidan jumped up and stood ramrod straight as he replied. "Yes, ma'am. It will not happen again, ma'am."

Shepard nodded, and gestured him to sit down.

Ashley was beginning to understand how Shepard's mind work. "So I guess we are keeping the part about the beacon off this report as well until we can find more concrete evidence to present to the Council. But what about the Cipher? We should probably keep that to ourselves, right?"

Shepard gave Ashley a lopsided grin. "No, we give them the full report on Feros. We tell the Council that Saren needed the Cipher because it allowed him to understand Prothean message stored in the beacon. We tell them that I have received the Cipher as well. It will be… useful if the Council would remember that I speak Prothean in the future."

"Speaking of the beacon, Shepard, what was the message? I must say, I am very intrigued. I've spent half my life studying the Protheans, yet, I still have so many questions." Liara asked. Shepard could tell the archaeologist was dying to dive into her brain to take a closer look.

"I can understand the message, but it's incomplete. The beacon on Eden Prime was damaged, and that means Saren probably doesn't know where the Conduit is either. With your background, you might be able to give us some insights if you could take a look at the vision yourself. But be warned, Liara. I call it a vision, but it's more like a nightmare. It's... extremely unpleasant." Shepard gave her the same warning she gave Sha'ira.

Liara was surprised by Shepard's reluctance to share, but she trusted the Commander enough to heed her caution. She took a deep breath to centre herself, her hands lightly touching either sides of Shepard's temples, and braced herself for the meld.

"Embrace eternity!"

 _Legions of machine devils dropped out of the sky, killing, burning, reaping, leaving whole worlds dead. Everything was burning. Fallen loved ones twisted into soulless husks, grisly mockery of who they once were in life. Flesh of the dead perverted and used as slaves. People screaming for help that would never come. The Citadel was the first to fall. Trapped, nowhere to run. Evil pouring out of every mass relay, raining down death and destruction in every world. Trillions mowed down like weeds. Betrayal. Indoctrinated servants of the machine devils. Surrender was not an option. Resistance was futile. Inevitable was the cycle of extinction of all organic life..._

Liara woke with a cry.

"Liara? Sweetie, talk to me." Shepard's worried face was hovering over her vision.

"Shepard? What happened?" Liara found herself on the ground, cradled in Shepard's arms. Dr. Chakwas was kneeling next to her, checking her vitals. "I saw… Oh, by the Goddess! It's horrible!"

"You blacked out. It's my fault. I didn't sever the meld fast enough. I shouldn't have let you see the vision." Shepard's voice was thick with guilt.

Liara felt Shepard brushing her cheeks, and finally noticed tears streaming down her own face.

Dr. Chakwas spoke. "Liara, you had a panic attack. Whatever you saw in the Commander's mind induced an intense fear state. I suggest you find a quiet place and meditate. Some exercise would also help."

"Right. You are coming with me." Shepard helped Liara up, noticed her team was still in the room, and said, "dismissed."

x-x-x

Shepard had insisted that Liara should stay with her in her cabin that night.

Initially, Liara was a bit put off by how overprotective the human was, but when she was shaken awake from her first horrendous nightmare that night, she was immensely grateful for Shepard's thoughtfulness. Every time Liara started whimpering and thrashing in her sleep, Shepard would wake her up and chase away the demons. After waking her, she would help Liara with breathing exercises until she was relaxed enough to fall back asleep again. The same thing repeated once every two hours like clock work. It wasn't exactly a good night's sleep, but Liara felt a lot better the next day.

"You could take a day off, you know?" Shepard said softly, touching her forehead against Liara's.

Liara shook her head. "I could, but I don't want to. I will go help Tali with the VI program. It should help me clear my mind." She ran her fingers through Shepard's short red hair and studied her lightly freckled face. "You should go. I know how to take care of myself. I'll be fine. Promise."

"Alright." Shepard conceded. She pressed a final kiss on Liara's forehead before she left the cabin and went about her work.

Liara didn't feel like eating, but she still stopped by the mess hall. She did promise to take care of herself, and that included consuming a proper meal to start the day. She grabbed two standard ration bars with a cup of coffee and sat down at an empty table.

"Hey."

Liara looked up. Ashley was standing next to her table, holding a tray of food. "Chief Williams. Greetings to you as well. Please, have a seat."

Ashley sat down directly in front of her.

The two of them ate their breakfast in silence. Liara could practically feel the weight of this woman's gaze on her the whole time. It was not the usual sexual leer asaris attracted, it was the evaluating, calculating kind. "I sense you wish to talk to me about something." Liara asked.

"You look like crap." Ashley stated bluntly.

Liara was momentarily taken aback by her bluntness. Then again, Shepard was quite blunt with her as well. Maybe it was a human thing. "I did not have much sleep. The vision… It gave me nightmares." She explained.

"That bad, eh?"

Liara stared at her empty coffee mug, her eyes glazed as she recalled the vision. "It's worse than anything I could possibly think of on my own. The Protheans, I study them. It is a passion, an obsession that had taken up fifty years of my life. I have read practically every research paper on their extinction. And now I know. I've _seen_ it. Can you imagine what it was like to have your entire race exterminated, your entire culture extinguished? That beacon is a distress signal. They were begging for help, and there is nothing I could do."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Ashley said.

"There is no need to apologize. I will be fine in a while. I wish I could be strong like Shepard. Her mental fortitude… To suffer such anguish on her own and not lose heart? Shepard is exceptionally strong-willed."

Ashley frowned at the asari. "You are not just talking about the vision, are you?"

Liara shook her head.

"Thought not. Everyone knows about Mindoir and Elysium. I've seen pictures. She had an adorable baby face at twenty-two. Don't tell her I said that." Ashley chewed on her bottom lip for a minute before she spoke again. "The Commander. She really cares about you, you know?"

Liara's lips curved into a smile. "Yes, I do."

Ashley snorted. "Of course you do. You should've seen her. Give her a pistol and point her at a two-headed thresher maw? She's cool as a cucumber. You fainting on her in a middle of a meld? She freaked."

"Shepard can be quite protective." Liara said, a little embarrassed.

"But she still brings you out on the field, into direct line of fire." Ashley pointed out.

"That is not the same. Shepard is protective of me, but she knows I do not need a protector. She trusts me to watch her back on the field, and she trusts in my abilities to do it well."

Ashley looked impressed by her explanation. "Huh. Didn't think of it that way."

"Shepard trusts you, too. She made you lead." Liara said, and noticed with some alarm that the human's lips seemed to tremble.

"Yeah, she did." Ashley said with a grin, her voice a bit rougher than usual. "I should get going. Take care of yourself."

"Thank you. I will." Liara got up from her seat and headed toward the med bay office to find Tali.

x-x-x

Shepard stood in front of the FTL comm console, facing the holographic projections of the Council with a blank look on her face.

Sparatus sneered at the Spectre in obvious disdain. "Of course Shepard would save those humans. She is human herself."

Shepard took offense at that comment. "And I would have done the same if they were batarians. I signed up for this job to maintain galactic stability. Slaughtering an entire colony of civilians in cold blood is counterproductive to that mandate. What do you think the press would say?"

Valern looked thoughtful. "You do have a point there, Commander. Regardless, you endangered the mission. Those colonists are not your concern."

"My mission is to stop Saren. Saren sent the geth there to remove evidence. I preserve them. I would call that mission accomplished."

"This Cipher you mentioned in the report," Tevos changed the topic to divert raising tension. "It is a dangerous asset in Saren's hand if it does what you claimed it to do. Are you certain?"

Shepard replied in something that the translation implants would not translate.

"What was that?" Valern asked, exchanging a bewildered look with the other two Councillors.

"I said, ' _Of course I'm certain. We do have a Prothean expert onboard,'_ in Prothean. If you want, I can write that down in Prothean as well, in case you need more proof." Shepard answered.

"This is troubling news. What of the Conduit and the Reapers? Have you obtained more information regarding those as well?" Tevos asked.

"Yes. Saren has a Reaper ship called Sovereign. This dreadnaught has advanced technology that Saren can use to ensnare minds and create willing slaves. This process is known as indoctrination. Matriarch Benezia is one of his many victims. Saren had learned of the Conduit from the beacon on Eden Prime, and he needed the Cipher to fully understand the message stored in the beacon."

Sparatus scoffed. "Convenient story, taken from the mouth of a criminal who wished to escape justice - one whom, you refused to arrest!"

"She is a victim! Indoctrination is hardly a new concept. There are a number of different mind-control techniques already in use. Physical and psychological torture, sensory deprivation, hypnosis, psychoactive drugs, Thorian thralls, batarian slave implant, ardat-yakshi domination. Need I go on?"

Sparatus snapped his mouth shut at the retort, and Tevos flinched at the mention of ardat-yakshi.

"I think we get the idea, Commander. You've told us about the Reapers, what more can you tell us about the Conduit?" Valern asked.

"According to Shiala, the beacon on Eden Prime was damaged. Even with the Cipher, Saren will need more information to find the exact location of the Conduit." Shepard stared straight into Tevos' eyes and said, "short of pulling a working Prothean beacon out of Athame's ass and downloading the telepathic information into my brain, I may not be able to find the location of the Conduit before Saren does."

Tevos looked supremely uncomfortable.

"Then do your job and stop him before he finds it." Sparatus managed to get in one last word before the Council disconnected the call.

x-x-x

Dr. Chakwas' eyes lit up when she saw Shepard strolled in the med bay with a familiar looking bottle in her hand. "Is that…?"

The Commander grinned cheekily at the doctor. "Why, yes. Serrice Ice Brandy. I needed a dose of happy after wasting my breath on politicians. Thought you might want to join me."

"Oh dear. Bad?" Dr. Chakwas asked.

"Worse." Shepard snorted.

The older woman magically pulled out two drinking glasses from a cabinet. "Want to talk about it?"

Shepard poured a healthy amount of the blue liqueur into each glass. "The Council was disappointed that my new nickname was not the Butcher of Feros."

Dr. Chakwas looked appalled. "What?!"

"Hence me needing this drink. Cheers." Shepard picked up a glass and took a sip. "This is the best brandy I've ever had."

"It is my favourite too." Dr. Chakwas took a sip from her glass as well. "The Council is wrong, Commander, you did the right thing."

Shepard smiled fondly at the older woman. "I know." She said, and quickly finished off her drink.

"You are drinking it too fast. Did you even taste it?" Dr. Chakwas was appalled by the way Shepard gulped down this fine brandy.

"If I drink it slow, I won't feel it. This will probably last me five minutes." Shepard said softly. "Cybernetic liver and kidneys, Doc. I can out drink a krogan."

Dr. Chakwas paused. "I see." She said, and took another sip. "Whoever did this to you has a lot to answer for."

Shepard looked down on her empty glass, not sure what to say to that. "May I ask you a question? It's silly, but…"

"Go ahead, ask."

Shepard put the glass down on the desk. "You are a doctor. Saving lives is literally what you do for a living. I wonder how far you'd go to save one life."

Dr. Chakwas' eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Interesting question. Hummm… It would depend on whose life I'm saving."

"Let's say it's my life."

"You are an important person, Commander. I would do a lot to save your life." Dr. Chakwas said, holding up the glass of brandy in her hand and waved it at Shepard. "You brought me a drink. How could I not save you?"

Shepard laughed. "I should bribe you with alcohol more often."

"Yes you should."

Shepard leaned back against the hull. "Even if it means lying to the brass?"

Dr. Chakwas slowly put her drink down. Her eyes sharp and full of intelligence. "You are a good woman, Commander Shepard. I consider you a friend. My personal loyalty is to you, not to the Alliance."

A grateful smile blossomed on the Commander's face. "You are a good friend, Doc."

"I do hope this stays hypothetical, Commander." Dr. Chakwas said cautiously.

Shepard didn't reply immediately. She gave the doctor a sad smile, and shook her head. "Soon."

"Shepard…" Dr. Chakwas began, but the Commander put a finger over her lips in a gesture for silence."

"Here, keep the rest. You'll enjoy it more than I do." Shepard patted the doctor on her arm. "We'll chat later."

Ignoring the urge to hover, Shepard chose to leave the med bay rather than going inside the med bay office to check on Liara. She made her way down to the cargo bay to check on the civilians instead.

The Normandy was a never designed to carry so many passengers, and its cargo bay was hardly a suitable living space. It was cramped and uncomfortable, and the air was starting to get a bit funky. But still, no one complained because that was the best they could get under the circumstances.

"Commander Shepard!" The leader of Zhu's Hope, Fai Dan, called out to get Shepard's attention when he spotted her coming out of the elevator. He was one of the first colonist to be subdued by Garrus' team on Feros.

"How are you doing, Fai Dan? I hope you got that bump on your head looked at?" Shepard asked, pointing at a nasty bruise at his right temple.

Fai Dan chuckled good naturedly at the Spectre. "It only looks bad. Dr. Chakwas assured me the swelling will go away in a day or two. It knocked me out good though. For that, I am eternally thankful. I wasn't in control of myself. I didn't know what terrible things I would have done under the Thorian's control."

Shepard had a pretty good idea what that would be, and decided not to say anything. "We will be in Eden Prime soon. Two more days of this and you'll be seeing blue sky again. It's too bad Feros didn't work out for you guys."

"Now that I have my mind back, I can tell you that we should have left that ruin of a planet a long time ago." Fai Dan shook her head.

Shepard found the opening she was waiting for. She had been planning for this for a while, and now was the perfect opportunity to run with it. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your plan going forward?"

Fai Dan thought about it and shrugged, looking a bit lost. "I'm not sure. Most of us at Zhu's Hope, at least the ones who talked to me about it, went into the Traverse to build a better life for ourselves. It's our bad luck that we swallowed ExoGeni's lies about a better future on a dead planet. Now? The best I can do is to go back to Earth and line up at Colonial Affairs again to sign up for a new post."

"I have an suggestion. You've heard about Eden Prime from the extranet, right?"

Fai Dan scratched his head. "Sorry, not really. We were kind of out of it for a while. What about it?"

Shepard's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Eden Prime was invaded by geth a little while back. Lots of people died. It was a complete massacre. The geth are gone now, and the planet is in desperate need to rebuild, but people are scared. No one would sign up in the Traverse anymore. Which, I think is a complete waste. Here we have a perfect garden planet ripe for settlement, and people are too scared to leave Earth."

Fai Dan perked up with great interest.

Shepard continued. "I knew someone from Eden Prime. Corporal Jenkins, killed in action in Eden Prime under my command when the geth invaded his homeworld. He said the planet was like a paradise, that's why he enlisted. 'Even paradise gets boring', he said. I think Jenkins' home deserves to be rebuild, and I happen to know a few good colonists looking for a place to settle. What do you think?" She gave the man an expectant look.

Fai Dan smiled. "I think Eden Prime sounds a lot more habitable than Feros."

"Excellent. Give me a list of people wanting to sign up, and I'll get the paperwork fast-tracked for you. Perks of being a Spectre." Shepard joked.

Fai Dan thanked Shepard again before he went off to talk to his men with a bounce in his steps.

x-x-x

Later that day, Shepard got a message from Garrus that Shiala wished to speak with her in private. She agreed, and told Garrus to escort Shiala up to the conference room.

"Thank you Commander, for granting a private audience to me." Shiala said.

"Take a seat. What would you like to talk about?" Shepard ask, sitting upright in one of the chairs with her hands on her thighs.

"I would like to ask you about your plan for me." Shiala said.

Shepard sat back into her seat and crossed her arms. "Why do you think I want anything from you?" She asked.

Shiala smiled faintly at her. "Because you do, Commander."

Shepard grinned. "Yeah, I do. How do you know?"

"You are a Spectre, Commander. You have a quality that sets you apart from the rank and file of common soldiers. You have seen the vision; you of all people should understand. Stop Saren, and you shall delay the Reapers' advance, but the hoard is still invading. Having touched your mind, however briefly that was, I've come to understand you. You are a protector, Commander. You will do anything to save us from our extinction. But you can't do it alone. No one can. You need all the help you can get - I am offering mine."

Shepard sat there quietly, contemplating what Shiala just said for a long moment. Finally, she broke the silence. "There is a children's' story from Earth about a shepherd boy crying wolves. Have you heard of it?"

Shiala nodded. "Yes, I have. What of it?"

"The Council will think I'm crying wolves."

"Wolves _are_ coming."

"No one will listen. It would be preferable for them to think I'm unhinged than to face the ugly truth. I would call that human nature, but..." Shepard shrugged.

Shiala let out a snort. "Asaris call it a Maiden's short view, as if Matrons and Matriarchs are immuned to the same pitfall."

"Their 'long view' won't help them this time. We don't have a hundred years for them to contemplate their actions. I give it two, three years, top. The Reapers didn't need the Conduit to destroy the Protheans. Something has changed. I think they need Saren to find the Conduit for them because they are already behind schedule."

Shiala looked pained. "I think you are probably right, and this terrifies me like nothing else."

Shepard switched on her Omni-tool and input a few commands. "I need you to stay in Eden Prime. I've just given you access to this bank account. Use it to fortify the defense of the colony and stockpile resources for a brutal siege."

Shiala did a double take when she saw the number of zeros in that bank account. "That's two million credits! This is too much."

"No, that's barely a drop in the bucket. Zhu's Hope is only the beginning." Shepard raked a hand over her short red hair, letting her frustration show for a brief moment. "There's so much I want to do, but so little time and resources. I'm fighting a battle on so many fronts, Shiala. I wish I only have the Reapers to worry about."

Shiala was flabbergasted. "Whatever do you mean by that?"

Shepard sighed. "You are intimately familiar with the effects of indoctrination. Do you really think Saren is the Reapers' only servant?"

"... No. Damn it!"

"I have my suspicions. I've been watching them for a while. They have been... _naughty_. There are subtle clues, little things, but never anything concrete. It's mostly a gut feeling, but I know I'm right."

Shiala gave the Commander a mirthless smile. "You are probably right again. How I hope you are wrong."

"I hope I am too. Watch your back, Shiala, they have eyes and ears everywhere, and they have credits to burn. I am humanity's first Spectre. They are _very_ interested in me." Shepard warned.

Shiala nodded in understanding.

"Good. I should go. Lots of work to do." Shepard smoothly stood up from her seat and stretched, before sticking out a hand for Shiala to shake. When their hands touched, Shepard narrowed her eyes and focused. A thin strand of her consciousness lept across her skin in a muted spark of biotic energy and tickled the very edge of Shiala's mind.

Shocked that a human had enough mental focus to perform what should have been a strictly asari technique, Shiala reacted on instinct and established a shallow communication meld without thinking.

 _Welcome to Operation Exodus, Shiala. You are going to help me save a million lives. We are Ragnarok._

"How is this possible?!" Shiala stared at the human like she had never seen her before.

Shepard grinned cheekily.

 _You know the answer already. It's the Cipher. This is about all I can do. The Protheans were capable of so much more._

Shepard removed her hand from Shiala's and ended the meld. "Think on what I've said. Let me know if you need anything else."

x-x-x

Joker had landed the Normandy on the same open field they used as a drop point last time they visited. One improvement was that the landing was much smoother without geth firing upon them.

When the Normandy finally touched down on Eden Prime, the mood of the crew could only be described as exuberant. Three days was a very long time to have about a hundred people (plus their luggages) stuffed inside a tiny frigate meant for twenty. By the end of the third day, Wrex was just about to blow his top. The only person who wasn't bothered by the confined space was Tali. In fact, the crowded living space reminded her so much of home, she was actually sad to see these people go.

Eden Prime's main spaceport had suffered major damage during the first wave of geth invasion due to its strategic importance. In the subsequent month following the invasion, most of the rebuilding effort had be dedicated to getting the spaceport up and running again. Without a reliable supply chain, not much else could be accomplished. The projected completion date for this construction project was not for another seven months.

While the spaceport was under construction, life went on. There were some aid coming in from the galactic community, such as food and medicine. But the galaxy was a big place, and people's memory was short.

In other words, Eden Prime did not look much better than when Shepard first visited it to secure the beacon. Sure, the fire was put out, and all the bodies were removed, but the scars of the carnage remained.

"It's still a hundred time better than Feros." Fai Dan said with tears in his eyes when his feet touched the soil. "Open sky, green fields, and a possibility to build myself a better life. This place is perfect."

His sentiment was shared by all the colonists from Zhu's Hope. Shepard could almost see visible wave of excitement as the civilians hurried back and forth from the cargo bay to the pre-fab residential blocks that would serve as their homes until something more permanant could be built. There was an ant-like efficiency to the way the colonists went about their tasks. Shepard couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at the display of human spirit, being a former colonist herself.

"The Normandy will be empty again. I am having complicated feeling about this." Tali came up to Shepard and made the comment.

Shepard smiled at the quarian. "I'm just happy to have my cargo bay back. I like having leg room. In any case, you look like you want to talk to me about something."

"Yes, Shepard. It took me a while, but I have finished _the thing_ you asked me to look into. I want to show you when you have some time."

"I see. I'll come over as soon as we are done here." Shepard agreed, and watched Tali walk away to chat with a colonist about hooking power up from the generator to the pre-fab blocks.

"Commander Shepard. A moment of your time, if you will." Shiala asked politely.

"Sure." Shepard said, and took a stroll with the asari to a little distance away from all the activities. When she deemed them to be far away enough to have a private conversation, she prompted the asari to start talking.

"I would like to ask you a personal question, Commander. Would you give me an honest answer?" Shiala said.

"That depends on the question."

A sly smile creeped onto the asari's face. Shepard narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Shiala.

Shiala tilted her head. "I've heard much praise of your virility. It is a well known fact that no asari could walk pass you without feeling tingles in their crest. I cannot speak for every asari, but I must admit I am quite tempted myself. Your charm and your apparent sexual prowess had impressed Consort Sha'ira so much, she felt compelled to lavish you with gifts after the deed. It is said that your personal touch was so sought after, all her acolytes practically threw themselves at you just for a taste."

Shepard swore loudly.

Shiala appraised every detail of Shepard's hard suit covered body with her eyes. She wasn't even trying to be subtle. "Soldiers talk, Commander. Put them in close proximity with civilians and they talk twice as much. I only relayed the polite part. As for the impolite portion of the tale, well. I'm sure you can use your imagination."

The dark blush on Shepard's cheeks was answer enough for Shiala. "Why do people always make me out to be some kind of azure chasing lout?"

"They live vicariously through your legendary exploits. Sexual or otherwise." Shiala explained simply. "You should maintain this illusion. Use their perception of you to your advantage."

Shepard gave her a sharp look, but she didn't move away or object when Shiala sidled up against her front, tracing her jaw lightly with her purple lips. "You are going to get me into so much trouble with Liara." She grumbled unhappily.

The pair of soft lips moved up to nibble her earlobe. "She is a smart maiden, she will understand. Just tell her the truth. You need people to think you have an asari lover at every port because the most secure communication channel is through touch."

"Can't we just shake hands?" Shepard closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pleasurable sensations invoked by Shiala's tongue and teeth.

Shiala let out a throaty laugh. "And where is the fun in that?" She said and pulled away, licking her lips at the flustered look on Shepard's face. "They had one thing right. You are _exquisite_."

Shepard clenched her teeth and swallowed the explesives.

x-x-x

"Don't freak out. I can totally explain!" The first thing Shepard did when she got back onboard the Normandy was seek out Liara. She found the maiden in the med bay office working with Tali on the VI program.

Liara looked up from the monitor screen, a little surprised at how distressed Shepard seemed. "Freak out about what? Are you alright?"

"Ah, it's you. I will come back after you've properly _explained_ yourself to Liara. I'll be in the engine room." Tali said frostily at the Commander. Apparently the quarian had heard about the incident before Liara did, and she was feeling quite indignant on her friend's behalf.

Liara watched in complete confusion as Tali gave Shepard a disdainful sniff before she stalked away like an insulted cat. "What was that about?"

Shepard winced. "She is not happy with me because… well. It would be easier if I just show you." She said, and stuck out her hand. "Come on."

Liara took her hand. A moment later, she felt it. "Shepard!" Liara gasped.

"Trust me." Shepard urged, brushing her consciousness against the faint edge of Liara's mind insistently. Her effort to initiate the communication meld created several tiny sparks of biotics that arched across her skin and melted into Liara's blue hand like spring snow on a sunny day.

With a soft whimper, Liara complied and dove headlong into the depths of Shepard's mind.

… _So warm. So bright..._

Shepard felt Liara's familiar presence and realized with some alarm that instead of establishing a shallow meld, the inexperienced maiden had dove in too deeply. As Liara's consciousness folded seamlessly into her own, her body also followed. Liara's lips trailed down the column of her throat and closed around a spot that allowed her to feel Shepard's frantically beating heart. Too stunned by what was happening, she could barely think, let alone to summon enough willpower to resist. She instinctively clutched tightly onto Liara's firm buttocks as a needy moan escaped her lips.

… _So good. Shepard… I want…_

A shudder ran down her spine when she felt a faint clench through Liara's end of the meld. Shepard could tell that most of Liara's higher brain function had been shut off, leaving only a haze of desire blanketing over her mind. If she didn't do something soon, their first time would ended up a quick toss on the floor, or against a wall. Liara deserved better.

 _Liara, pull back._

Liara obeyed, only to press the side of her own throat against Shepard's lips, urging the woman to lavish the spot with her tongue and teeth.

 _Kiss me._

Shepard ripped herself out from Liara's arms and flung herself back to stay away from temptations. This break in contact forcibly severed the meld. Both of them were left breathless and disoriented from the sudden withdrawal. "One of these days I'm gonna die of blue balls because I'm trying to do the right thing." She muttered while massaging her forehead with a hand. "Ah, fuck." Shepard cursed when she noticed the look of _hurt_ on Liara face. "Hey, are you alright?"

"... No, I'm not. You are giving me very mixed signals, Shepard." Liara said stiffly. Her eyes were still showing a bit of black from the interrupted meld.

"Liara, you misunderstood. I was trying to show you that I can initiate a communication meld with a biotic trick I learnt from the Cipher. I didn't expect you to, well. You said you weren't ready. I wasn't gonna push for it." Shepard scratched the back of her neck, a little embarrassed.

Liara was utterly mortified. "By the Goddess, I've made a complete fool out of myself. I presumed…" She groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"Hey, hey." Shepard coaxed the maiden into a hug. "You caught me off guard, that's all. I'd never reject you." She said, and proceeded to demonstrate just how much she wanted Liara by kissing her deeply until they had to part for air.

" _Very_ mixed signals, Shepard." Liara panted against Shepard's shoulder.

"Sorry. Got a bit carried away." Shepard had the decency to look contrite. "I said I needed to explain myself. I still do."

"The communication meld."

"Yes, that's part of it." Shepard said, palming Liara's face with a hand. "Remember, don't dive in too deep unless you want to Join me. If that's what you want, at least let me get you to a bed."

Liara gave her a hooded glare. "It was not entirely my fault. You were doing th-the thing with your biotics. I felt it the first time. You didn't need to keep… rubbing and poking me with it. What was I supposed to think you want? You should have waited for my acknowledgement, instead of… what you did. Basic melding etiquette." She scolded with a supposedly angry pout, but the blushes on her face gave her away.

"Yes, ma'am. Will keep that in mind, ma'am." Shepard gave her a salute. "Let me know when you are ready. I want to show you some of my memories."

"Alright." Liara leaned forward and touch forehead with Shepard. "Ready."

Shepard took a deep breath and close her eyes.

 _Shepard was in the Consort's chamber, talking to the powerful matriarch. "... I can't ask the Council to mobilize its fleet based on one human's vision and gut instinct."_

 _Shepard was in the conference room, talking to Ashley and Kaidan. She felt pity at their ignorance. "... a laundry list of atrocities committed by the Alliance at the highest level."_

 _Shepard whispered in Ashley's ear, wanting to trust her, but was also afraid of betrayal. "... We are Ragnarok"_

 _Shepard and Shiala clasped their hand together in a handshake, a symbol of friendship. She spoke to Shiala without speaking out loud. "... We are Ragnarok."_

 _Shepard was exasperated with Shiala, the asari who was nibbling her ear. Shiala's breaths tickled her ear as she whispered. "...tell her the truth… the most secure communication channel is through touch."_

Shepard ended the meld and opened her eyes. "Well? Say something."

"That's… I don't even…" Liara blinked slowly. "I need to sit down."

Without saying a word, Shepard guided the maiden to her usual chair and sat her down. She knelt in front of Liara and waited for her to process all the information she just dumped on her lap.

"I recognize the term - it's from a human story. Mythology." Liara finally spoke.

Shepard nodded. "Yes."

"Who are ' _we'_?"

Shepard coughed. "At the moment, just me, technically."

Liara palm her face. "By the Goddess, please tell me you are joking."

"Hey, I have plans! I'm not doing this by the seat of my pants. And I'm not doing this by myself. I have help." Shepard protested loudly.

"What help?"

"I have you!"

"Oh I feel twice as good about our chances now that it's two people instead of one going up against the whole world!"

" _Exactly!_ " Shepard exclaimed passionately. "Don't you see? That's what I've been trying to tell you. I _need_ you."

"You ridiculous woman!" Liara surged forward, grabbed Shepard's face with both hands, and kissed her so hard she tasted blood.

By the time they broke apart, Shepard's eyes had dilated so much, her iris was only a thin rim of green.

Liara touched forehead with Shepard again. "Yes." She whispered.

"Yes?"

"Yes, I will help you with whatever mad schemes you cook up." Liara said with a slightly hysterical laugh.

"Thank you." Shepard said quietly.

"Make it official. I want you to give me the speech."

"Of course." Shepard agreed, and linked her mind with Liara's again.

 _Welcome to Operation Coventry, Liara. You are going to save my life. We are Ragnarok._

x-x-x

A/N: Shepard was juggling multiple plans at the same time, so it might get a bit confusing. It should make more sense later on.


	4. I-04: Hades' Dogs

Book I - Chapter 4: Hades' Dogs

"Liara, you are here." Tali paused her work on the latest diagnosis for the stealth system. With clear caution in her body language, the quarian gave her friend a quick once over. "You don't seem too upset. I assume you are satisfied with the Commander's explanations?"

Liara smiled at her friend's show of concern. She thought Tali was being really sweet. "Tali, it's alright. Shepard has done nothing wrong. There is no need to be cross with her."

Tali planted her hands on her waist in a show of disbelief. "Uh hum, I've heard that one before. 'Something got caught on my suit, she was only checking for a breach.' 'I tripped over a spanner and accidentally landed on top of your sister.' Liara, are you sure? The Commander can be _very_ persuasive."

Liara put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle at Tali's antics. "Yes, I'm sure. Shepard showed me her memories, and I felt what she felt through the meld. She was actually quite exasperated with Shiala for taking such liberty."

"Oh, alright then." Tali deflated. "I suppose I own Shepard an apology. I was rude to her over nothing."

"I wouldn't say it's nothing. You were looking out for me." Liara said.

"You are my friend, of course I would look out for you. I just wish I hadn't been so hasty to judge. I wanted to punch them both when I saw that woman pawing at Shepard. At least I didn't go through with that impulse."

Liara made a vague gesture. "Asaris are generally very comfortable with touch. What Shiala did was definitely pushing the boundary, but it would not be considered a gross misconduct. Casual touching amongst friends is the norm in asari culture. This is one of many reasons people believe all asaris are promiscuous."

Tali seemed fascinated by Liara's explanation. "How wonderful! Physical acts of affection are difficult for us quarians, for obvious reasons. I am truly envious, Liara. That's why I was so mad at Shepard for letting another woman touch her when she already has you."

Liara shook her head. "Shiala only did it to tease Shepard. She wanted to perpetuate the rumor regarding Shepard's sexual prowess because she thought it was hilarious."

Tali snorted. "Yeah, some of the stuff people say about Shepard are pretty absurd. I don't believe for a second that she can use her biotics alone to 'send an asari's azure all aflutter'." She mocked with an exaggerated air quote using her long middle fingers.

Liara choked on her spit.

"No way!" Tali exclaimed, but quickly lowered her voice. "Really? What about the thing with her ton..." She asked conspirically.

"In-in any case," Liara interrupted whatever Tali was trying to say and completely changed the topic. "Shepard asked us to show her the project we've been working on."

"You're no fun." Tali complained with a pout.

The two rode up the elevator and went back to the med bay office and found Shepard waiting for them inside.

"Tali." Shepard gave the quarian a polite nod.

"Shepard." Tali replied with a hint of mirth in her voice. "Relax. I'm not mad at you anymore. Liara explained." She paused for a second, and added, "I've heard you can do some interesting thing with your biotics…"

"Tali!" Liara was scandalized.

"Yeah, it's a Prothean technique." Shepard said innocently. Obviously she had no clue what Tali was insinuating.

"Shepard!" The heat on Liara's face told her that her cheeks must be showing a dark shade of lilac.

"Ooh, Prothean technique. No wonder Liara liked it so much." Tali purred.

"Please, just stop." Liara covered her face with her hands.

Shepard's lightly freckled face scrunched up into a confused frown. "Ok? I have no idea what's going on, but I'll stop. So Tali, you said earlier there's something you want to show me about that VI?"

"I did. I think you'll find this enlightening." Tali turned on the display attached to the VI hard drive and typed in a few commands to pull up a log. "I have taken a very close look at the VI program. It is a very sophisticated, very versatile battle logistic management software. With some modifications, this VI can be linked to manage anything from one drone to a battle station plus the entire fleet."

"Wow. The amount of information this VI can analyze must be truly phenomenal." Shepard looked very impressed.

"That is not all." Liara added. "I could tell by its basic framework that this VI was inspired by volus financial software commonly used for investing in the stock market. It can not only analyze a great deal of data with astonishing speed, it is capable of making 98% accurate predictions on complicated maneuvers, such as projecting enemy troop movements and supply logistics. It can also update its algorithms to increase its efficiency to deploy on-the-fly cyber-warfare. Do you see the implication of this?"

The slight frown on Shepard's face deepen into a scowl. "Yes. The functionalities of this VI is skirting awfully close to an AI."

The quarian agreed. "Exactly. Which is why we suspect it was picked as a prime target to be sabotaged. However advanced this VI is, it's still a ways away from being considered full AI. I've meticulously picked through every line with Liara, and there is no indication that the software has developing any sense of self, nor was there any error that would cause a malfunction. There is absolutely no reason why the VI would refuse to shut down. I can state with full confidence that the AI in that blue box was the true culprit." Tali pointed at the quantum computer sitting in the corner of the office.

Shepard slowly sat down in one of the empty chair. Judging by the way her green eyes became unfocused, Liara could tell the woman was thinking fast.

A couple minutes of silence later, the Commander spoke with a determined lit. "Two things. One, I want the blue box completely wiped. We already know that the lunar base was a sabotage job, we don't need to take on more risk by poking at an AI. Two, I want the VI to be incorporated to my Omni-tool. Set the VI's visual display to sync with my cortical implants so it can run on stealth mode."

"Cort… Oh." Liara leaned in to examine Shepard's eyes closely. They looked completely natural. There was no telltale signs that would suggest those beautiful green eyes were even partially cybernetic; at least not without using a medical scanner. Whoever designed them must have been obsessed with perfection. "Was it Elysium?" She asked softly while her heart clenched painfully in her chest. The thought that Shepard had been so injured to require cortical implants to restore her sight was making it hard to breathe.

"Part of it was. It's complicated." Was all Shepard would divulged at this time. Liara decided not to push.

While Liara and Shepard were having a moment, Tali left them alone to kept flipping through the VI log. "Let's see... If I strip all the non-essential functions, I can compress the program into an add-on for your Omni-tool. It'll still take up a lot of space, but yes, I can do it." Tali said, staring at the screen thoughtfully. "I can't say I understand why the Alliance felt the need to design seven different sets of avatars - each came with a complete wardrobe and dance moves - for one battle logistic VI though. Must be a human thing."

Shepard chuckled at that bit of information. "Yeah, it's a human thing. You're right about it being non-essential too. Just set the avatar to something simple."

"I need some time to do the compression, but I can get it done before we reach the Citadel. As for the blue box, I can't do a complete wipe until the next Mako drop. There is too much risk if we turn it on inside a ship or on a space station."

Shepard grinned widely at Tali's answer. "The timing is perfect. I need that VI functional to run analyses for me. It'll take me forever to go through all the paperwork on my own."

Liara hummed thoughtfully as she noticed a slight problem. "The VI would need a new name. You can't keep calling it 'the VI', and you can't call it Hannibal either. You don't want to advertise to the world where it came from."

"Widget." Shepard said without delay. "My grandma was an accountant on Earth before she changed careers and moved out to the colonies to be a farmer. She used that term a lot when she told me stories about her old job. I always thought it would make a cute name for a pet."

Liara felt her heart flutter happily at the sight of the fond smile adoring Shepard's handsome face when she spoke of her family. When she remembered with a jolt how Shepard's grandma was butchered by batarian slavers in front of a young Shepard's very eyes, her heart started clenching painfully again. "I like it. Widget it is." She said, and felt her heart soar when Shepard grinned proudly at her approval.

It should have frightened her how Shepard could effortlessly pluck at her heartstrings, but she was not afraid. Shepard made her feel safe.

At that moment, without a doubt, Liara realized what she felt toward this odd human was not a simple sexual attraction, nor a fleeting infatuation. She was in love.

x-x-x

Shepard could practically smell the smoke coming out of her back from being charred by Ashley's laser eyes. She had a very good idea as to why the Gunnery Chief was giving her the death glare, too. Her original plan was to have Ashley and Garrus accompany her to pick out new licenses and equipment, but her plan was changed when she got a message on her Omni-tool. Consort Sha'ira requested her presence at her earliest convenience.

Dropping by the embassy lounge to pick up a bottle of spiced rum as a gift for Sha'ira, Shepard told her squadmates that they could go back to the Normandy first if they didn't want to wait outside the Consort chamber. Both insisted they didn't mind the waiting, but Ashley said so with clear disapproval in her voice while Garrus said so with envy.

"Commander Shepard! It's good to see you again." Acolyte Nelyna greeted her with her usual enthusiasm. "Sha'ira has been waiting for you."

Shepard gave the woman a quick nod and went straight into Sha'ira's chamber.

Sha'ira seemed very pleased to see the Spectre. She greeted her warmly like an old friend, and treated her with Thessian tea and confections like a mother hen fussing over her chick.

Although a bit in shock by the way Sha'ira behaved toward her from last time, Shepard really appreciated the gesture. Her confusion must have shown on her face, however, because Sha'ira regarded her indulgently and explained, "Shepard, I am a very good consort, I know what my clients need. You, Commander, need a confidant. Therefore, that is the role I choose to assume for your benefit. Now, regale me of the progress you've made for your grand quest."

Shepard grinned happily, and extended a hand toward the Consort. "I've learnt something incredibly useful. Though I was told I was lacking in basic etiquette the first few times I've used it. I don't think that would be a problem this time."

Sha'ira gave Shepard a quizzical look before taking her hand. When she did, her eyes went round in surprise.

 _Greetings, Sha'ira._

"This is unheard of." Sha'ira whispered in awe before she reinforced the mental connection from her end to form a stable communication meld.

 _A desolate planet. An ancient old growth. Enthralled slaves. Rejoice of a freed mind. Cipher. Being watched by predators. A greedy spider sitting in a centre of a web. A rabid three headed hound. The Doom of the Gods is neigh. We are Ragnarok._

Shepard exhaled, and gently withdrew from the meld. Like a student anxiously waiting for her teacher's evaluation on an important assignment, she asked Sha'ira, "So what do you think?"

"I think," Sha'ira spoke dryly, "I should have learnt that anything is possible with you by now. They are powerful enemies, Shepard. For an entire month I wondered about the content in the letter to Aethyta. She was extremely agitated by it. Nonetheless, I trusted in your judgement enough to persuade her to cooperate. Mind you, that was not an easy task. Now I finally understand."

Shepard chuckled humorlessly at the mention of her enemies. "Those vermin are everywhere. I can't open a comm channel on my own ship without being overheard."

"Hence the precaution." Sha'ira sighed. With a flourish, she took out an OSD tucked between her ample breasts and handed the item to Shepard. "This is from Aethyta. The password is your beloved's pet name."

"Thank you." Shepard slid the OSD into her Omni-tool and typed 'Little Wing' to un-encrypt it. As she read through the content of the disc, her eyes grew steadily rounder in astonishment. "Aethyta did _what_?!"

Sha'ira looked at the human curiously. "I don't know what's on that disc, but I remember Aethyta mentioned something about 'being too old for a pony'."

Shepard let out a bark of laughter. "I asked for one ship, and she gave me a whole fleet."

A look of comprehension dawned on the Consort's face. "So that's why she was suddenly into ships. She got them for you."

"With mostly her own credits." Shepard added. "I only gave her one million. That's nowhere near what she gave me back in return. She is too generous."

Sha'ira disagreed. "No, I do not believe Aethyta did that out of generosity. She must have her reasons to invest heavily in you. I can think of a few."

Shepard was quiet for a moment. "I will try my best, but I can't promise her _Little Wing's_ safety. Very soon, no one will be safe."

"Aethyta never would have asked for your guarantee. She gave you all that resources to improve your odds at this game."

"For that, she has my gratitude. The same goes for you." Shepard said with a bow.

Sha'ira smiled graciously at the Spectre. "There is no need to thank me, Shepard. I've already pledged my unlimited support to you. Out of curiosity though, I wonder why you would have need for any other ships. You already have the most advanced warship in the Alliance under your command."

Instead of answering the question, Shepard passed the Consort the bottle of spiced rum she bought earlier with a conspiratorial smirk. "Rum is the traditional naval drink for humans. I thought it would be appropriate."

Sha'ira examined the bottle with a slight tilt of her head. This plain bottle of dark amber liquor had become quite a common sight in the Citadel since humans joined the galactic community. It was so common, it was not considered a high class drink. Unsurprisingly, that was probably why no one thought to bring the Consort of all people a bottle.

"Duty calls. I must go. Thank you for your time." Shepard extended a hand toward Sha'ira. The matriarch shook her hand without a moment's hesitation and established a mental link at the slightest prompt.

 _My best estimate - Saren will attack the Citadel in about three months. This might change. Be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice. We should avoid meeting in private again. I fear I have already endangered you by putting you on their radar. They have a strong grip here in the Citadel, and the Normandy's communication channel is also compromised. From now on the only important messages from me will be sent through a pseudonym "Janiri". The password for my next message to you is "yohoho". Any un-encrypted messages with my name as the sender will only serve to misdirect my enemies._

Shepard let go of the Consort's hand with a rueful smile. "I may not be able to see you again in a long time. I will sorely miss your company, Sha'ira."

"As I shall miss you." The Consort said and kissed the Commander tenderly. "For luck." She murmured.

Shepard gave the matriarch a grateful nod, and left without looking back.

Outside of Sha'ira's chamber, Shepard found Ashley and Garrus having a vocal disagreement. The two stopped arguing as soon as they saw their Commander.

"That was quick. I thought it might take longer." Ashley commented.

Garrus jumped in and protested on Shepard's behalf. "The Commander can take as long as she wants. It's between her and the Consort."

"Whoa, you two. What's going on?" Shepard frowned at her squadmates. Inwardly, she cursed herself for not seeing this sooner. What was she thinking anyway? Leaving a Williams and a turian alone for more than ten minutes was asking for trouble. She just hoped Shanxi or the First Contact War were not brought up in any shape or form.

"Nothing. Just… difference in opinions, ma'am." Ashley replied stiffly.

Shepard looked at the former C-Sec. "Well?"

Garrus' mandibles flared in agitation. "Chief Williams seems to have formed an opinion that's based on misinformation, Commander. I corrected her."

"Speak plain. What is this about?" Shepard was rapidly losing her patience.

"Permission to speak freely, ma'am." Ashley asked.

"Granted. Now hurry up. Don't make me guess."

Ashley hesitated. "I might have mentioned that it would not be appropriate for you to visit the Consort when you are already in a committed relationship. Officer Vakarian here disagreed."

Garrus defended his position. "I disagreed because I found Chief Williams' insinuation of the Consort's role to be ignorant and insulting."

Shepard found it very difficult to resist the urge to sigh. _Great. At least they were fighting over a woman's reputation. Not about deep-rooted racial hatred._

"Williams, the word 'consort' does not translate well from asari to human because there is no equivalent. If I get to rewrite the dictionary, I would translate it to 'councillor' instead. A consort is like a life consultant, a therapist, a guru, and a mind healer all rolled into one. Depending on a client's need, touch may be required to fulfill a person's psychological need. And yes, in some cases, sex might be involved, but that is not the norm. At the most fundamental level, they provide a service to ease someone's soul. To compare them to a common prostitute is a great insult. If you want an analogy in human terms, it's like calling a pastor a sheep herder because they both lead a flock."

Shepard turned to the turian. "Garrus, many human religions have a very restrictive view on sexuality. Williams is a believer of one such religion. The word 'consort' in human language came with a lot of negative connotations. She might be misinformed, but getting angry at her won't make her understand. Next time, try asking her to elaborate. You might find it informative."

"Sorry, skipper. I really didn't know." Ashley began.

Shepard stopped her. "Don't apologize to me. I wasn't the one you were arguing with."

So then the Commander was treated to the rare sight of a Williams and a turian apologizing to each other profusely for starting a pointless fight in the first place. It was as close to "kiss and make up" as it could be. Seeing this filled Shepard with hope that she might really be able to unite all the races together and defeat the Reapers for good.

x-x-x

Tali's idea of a simple avatar for Widget was a translucent pale blue hamster ball that looked a great deal like Glyph. This coincident made Shepard wonder if the original Shadow Broker had commissioned a quarian to build his info drone.

Shepard fed Widget all the shipping logs to and from Binthu for the last three years. Two hours later, the VI spit out a set of coordinates that was most likely to be the location of Cerberus' secret labs. Four days later, Shepard was sitting inside the Mako with Ashley and Kaidan, ready to be dropped within driving distance of said labs.

"Remind me to do something nice for Tali after this." Shepard said with a toothy grin that was a tad on the feral side.

"Um, Commander, you haven't really explained why we are here. You only told us to suit up and get in." Kaidan said, a bit spooked by the bloodthirsty expression on Shepard's face.

"Right, I haven't said anything yet. You'll just have to find out for yourselves."

Sure enough, the first lab they burst into told them all they needed to know. "Thorian creepers!" Ashley snarled as she blasted through a group of human troopers wearing black and white uniforms with a yellow diamond insignia on their shoulders. "Those bastards are doing illegal genetic experiments on aliens!"

"See that logo? They are Hades' Dogs - they are Cerberus. They will do anything in the name of human ascension. They call themselves pro-human, I call them space age Nazis." Shepard said with a flat voice. She signaled her squad to get ready as she turned off the force field containing the creepers. A hail of bullets later, those mindless creatures were put out of their misery.

The next two labs contained more Cerberus troopers and strange alien bugs. Shepard knew those were Rachnis, but she didn't say anything. Ashley and Kaidan would find out soon enough after their visit to Noveria.

They took the time to go through all the terminals in those labs, collecting any scrap of data they could salvage before they left the place. Shepard also had her team strip the most intact bodies and collect a few sets of Cerberus armors. "Take the ones that would fit you. We might need them for later." The Commander ordered, and saw comprehension light up on her squad's faces.

Ashley look both excited and a little scared. "We are not just collecting evidence, are we?"

"No." Shepard confirmed Ashley's suspicion, but did not elaborate.

"So what are we going to tell the brass?" Kaidan asked, looking very stressed.

"The truth." Shepard gestured at the lab equipment around the room. "We followed a lead collected from Feros and found this location where illegal experiments were being conducted. Upon entry, we were met with heavy resistance. Based on the insignia on their uniform, they were identified as a pro-human paramilitary terrorist group Cerberus. This organization might have infiltrated the Alliance, but they do not represent humanity. I am a Council Spectre. My report will be filed to both the Alliance and the Council. People need to be aware what's going on, and I want Cerberus to own up. Those vermin thrive in shadow and secrecy. I will drag them out to stink under the sun. I refuse to let the Alliance, let _humanity_ , take the blame for their wrongdoings."

Both Ashley and Kaidan gave her a fierce grin at that statement.

"Well said, Commander. I'm with you all the way." Kaidan pledged.

"Good. Now let's hurry up and get back to the Normandy. I need to get through all the data and write a very long report."

Widget's ability to process data was invaluable to Shepard. Within an hour of feeding all the data they got from the labs, Widget was able to spit out two more sets of coordinates of possible Cerberus facilities. One of them was only a day's trip away.

Shepard had a vague recollection of this place. When she recalled more details on what was in that particular facility, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from breaking up into loud cheers.

For this mission, Shepard specifically picked Tali and Liara as her squadmates. This Cerberus underground facility on Nepheron was well defended, so having Liara with her for the crowd control made things easier. After they carefully advanced through the facility and picked off Cerberus troopers one by one, they found a particularly important looking terminal at the very depth of the building.

"I think whatever is in that terminal will make for a very interesting horror flick." Shepard commented snarkily. "Tali, do you think Widget can handle the data extraction?"

"Hmm… Not really, no. Widget is very capable when it comes to counter-hacking, but it prioritizes on causing damage, not on preserving data integrity. We will have to do it manually. I can give it a try. No promises, though." Tali explained and started typing away furiously into her Omni-tool. Twenty minutes later, smoke and spark began to pour out the top of the terminal as Tali yelled, "got it!"

Shepard barely had enough time to throw a stasis on Tali before she found herself lying on her back on the other end of the room, her ears ringing. According to the HUD, her shield was completely gone, and she could feel stabbing pain shooting up her left arm. At least her stasis had saved Tali from a very painful explosion to the face, seeing how she was right next to the terminal when it self-destructed.

Liara burst into the room. "Shepard!" She knelt down to check her injury. "You're hurt!"

"Getting blown up sucks." Shepard grumbled as she got back on her feet with Liara's help. By sheer coincidence, Liara had wandered outside of the room to check on a weapon locker for extra supplies when the terminal exploded. Her left arm suffered the most damage and was now hanging uselessly against her side. She could feel blood seeping out of the cracked armor and began to drip on the floor. "Medi-gel." Shepard slurred, unable to lift her arm to use her Omni-tool to dispense medi-gel herself. The blood loss was making her feel faint. She could tell from experience that an artery must have been nicked.

Liara quickly dispensed a dose of medi-gel for the Commander with shaky hands.

Shepard let out a sigh of relief when she felt the familiar sensation of cool goo sliding down her arm. A wave of numb followed, and the stabbing pain was muffled into a dull ache.

The stasis covering Tali finally wore off. She fell backward in shock. "Keelah!" Tali exclaimed shrilly, looking around the charred room in a panic. She recoiled at the sight of Shepard slumping against Liara while a puddle of red steadily grew bigger on the floor.

"Joker, lock in on the Mako. Pick us up asap. Have Dr. Chakwas on standby at pickup." Shepard ordered through her helmet comm calmly.

"Copy that. ETA five minutes. Joker out."

"Hey, don't freak out. This is not as bad as it looks. Trust me, give me two days and I'll be good as new." Shepard said to her squadmates, hoping to make them feel better.

It didn't work. Liara and Tali both still looked close to tears.

"Do you have the file?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. I got everything." Tali confirmed.

"Then let's get out of here."

During the five minute wait inside the Mako, Shepard was given another dose of medi-gel when Liara noticed her eyes were starting to lose focus.

"I'll be fine." Shepard insisted. "Before humans invented artificial blood, people used to donate blood for medical purpose. This is nothing. Dr. Chakwas will patch me up in no time."

Neither Liara nor Tali looked convinced.

x-x-x

The Normandy landed right on time for the pickup. The crew was already a bit on edge when they heard Shepard requesting Dr. Chakwas to be on stand by. It got worse when they saw Shepard had to be biotic lifted out of the Mako.

"How many medi-gel has she received?" Dr. Chakwas asked while scanning Shepard's vitals.

"Two in the last five minutes." Liara answered quickly.

"Liara, lift her to the med bay and help me get her armor off." Dr. Chakwas ordered.

Shepard was proven to be a very uncooperative patient. "I'm fine. I can walk."

Liara glared at her. "Shut up and stay still, or I'll make you."

Shepard quailed.

The three moved into the elevator and headed toward the med bay, leaving the rest of the crew in the cargo bay.

Garrus was the first to notice the blood on Tali's armor. "Are you injured? Is there a suit breach?"

"Ah, no. That's Shepard's." Tali replied in a subdued voice. She looked back at the Mako and her shoulders slumped. "There is more blood inside the Mako."

"What happened?" Ashley asked.

Tali made a sound of dismay. "Everything went well, and then we found a terminal with all the Cerberus files. Shepard asked me to extract them. I got the files, but I also tripped the security feature. The terminal self-destructed. Shepard only had enough time to put me under stasis. The explosion destroyed the entire room and ripped right through her shield. She saved my life."

The room was quiet at that. It sounded exactly like something Shepard would do.

"Wait, hang on a sec." Kaidan spoke up, looking quite confused. "You said she used stasis on you?"

Tali nodded. "Yes. I don't think I would have survived otherwise. I was right next to the terminal when it exploded in my face."

"I thought the Commander was trained as a vanguard. Isn't stasis a high level biotic technique?" Ashley asked.

"It is. I've seen her use singularity too. That's another biotic technique she could use. Damn, she's got to be the strongest human biotics I've seen. I'm an L2 and I can't contemplate throwing biotic around like she does. I never would have believed an L3 could be this strong." Kaidan said.

"Shepard is special. I've fought my fair share of asari commandos. If we throw them all in a ring, I would still put credits down on Shepard to be the last person standing." Wrex said with a chuckle. "She got a small scratch and made a mess bleeding on stuff. You are all worked up over nothing. It will take a hell of a lot more to keep her down. That woman is tough. In any case, someone should grab a mop and clean up before I slip on her blood." He drawled, and walked away.

"I suppose he does have a point." Garrus grumbled, eyeing the half congealed bright red puddles with some trepidation. "Is human blood supposed to be this red?" He asked the Gunnery Chief.

Ashley swallowed. "That's arterial blood."

"I don't know what that means. I guess it's not good?" Garrus asked.

Ashley shook her head. "No."

x-x-x

"It's really not that bad," Shepard insisted. A small part of her felt perturbed to be biotically manhandled as such, but for the most part she was extremely embarrassed by the whole situation. "It was only a cut, it's not like I'm missing bits."

After stripping the wounded N7 of her armor with Liara's help, Dr. Chakwas immediately pull out the blood transfusion kit and hooked it into Shepard's non-injured right elbow to replenish her lost blood. She then took out a pair of scissors and began cutting open Shepard's bloodsoaked undershirt.

Shepard sat on a med bed and frowned at her injured left arm. From the look of it, bits of shrapnel had sliced into the inside of her elbow, tearing open an artery in the process. The medi-gel would have fused the bloody ruin together, had the sharp edges of her cracked armor not kept digging into the wound.

Dr. Chakwas set up a tourniquet above the wound before she moved the mechanical arm of the medi-tool and aimed it at the centre of the cut. "Hold still," she said, and set the machine to diffusion frequency. Hardened medi-gel liquified in an instance at the blast, and blood started flowing faster out of Shepard's wound. The next instant, the doctor was working at full speed with her medi-tool, sewing and rebuilding broken tissue together with synthetic weaves.

Shepard looked up at the distressed sound coming from Liara's direction. "Sorry, Liara. This is not pretty to look at. You don't have to be here."

Liara tried to speak, but all she managed was another distressed noise in the back of her throat. She did not move from the spot.

"Commander, move your fingers." Dr. Chakwas said.

Shepard did.

"Make a fist."

Shepard did that too.

Dr. Chakwas let out a breath. "That's good."

Shepard grinned charmingly at the doctor. "You're the best. See? Like I said. It's just a scratch."

Dr. Chakwas slapped the Commander upside the head. "That's not just a scratch. You are lucky I'm this good." She stated sternly before she went back to her task.

"Aww." Shepard pouted and tried to rub the back of her head. She stopped mid motion when she remembered the transfusion kit attached to her right arm. "How long is this gonna take?" She asked, trying not to sound too whiny.

"Another thirty minutes at least." Dr. Chakwas said curtly.

Shepard sighed. She turned to Liara, and noticed the red stood out vividly against the white of her light Titan armor. "Liara, this is going to take a while. You really should go clean up."

Liara looked down and blanched at sight of Shepard's blood on herself. She made a faint noise of agreement and left the room in a daze.

The next thirty minutes went by slowly for the Commander. She was very used to being patched up, so the procedure was nothing new to her. Afterall, she had been under Dr. Chakwas' tender care during her fight against the Collectors plus the entirety of the Reaper War.

It was not until she noticed how upset Dr. Chakwas seemed did Shepard realized she might have made a mistake.

"You're done, right? Is everything ok? Why are you upset?" Shepard asked cautiously.

"I am upset because I am your doctor." Dr. Chakwas said quietly. "I notice signs on your body only a doctor would know. Every injury leaves a scar, though not every one of them is visible. Your reaction, or I should say, your lack thereof, gave you away. You've been injured too many times to count, you've become completely desensitized to the process. You didn't even flinch from pain when I reattached severed nerves. This injury should have alarmed anyone because of the feeling of weakness that comes with blood loss, but you were not worried because you knew it would take another ten minutes for it to be life threatening. You are a veteran of your own pain and suffering. This distresses me."

"Doc…"

"You didn't make light of your own injury merely to reassure your squadmates. You did it because you honestly believed it was not a big deal. You said so yourself, Commander. 'It's not like you're missing bits.' That statement alone is worrisome. Essentially what you were saying was that if you were not injured to the point of requiring cybernetic replacement, the injury was considered minor. If it were Liara who got injured the same way you did, would you make the same statement? Would you tell Liara to suck it up because it's not like she's missing bits? I think not. What happened to you, Shepard? What have they done to you?"

Shepard sat there, stunned. "I don't… I-I can't. I can't talk about it."

Dr. Chakwas looked frustrated. "The explosion should have caused more damage to your body. Your arm should have been fractured, your ribs should have been bruised. You are not as injured because your entire skeleton has been reinforced. Others who have suffered the same injury as you would need at least two weeks to fully recover. By my estimate, you would only need two days judging by the accelerated rate your cells regenerate. Your cybernetic implants are so integrated, I suspect they were trying to turn you into a perfect blend of organic and synthetic. I am upset, because you are a good person, _you are my friend_ , and they've cut you open and _experimented_ on you."

The doctor's words sent a jolt of self-loathing through her. Shepard did not like to dwell on it, but sometimes she didn't feel completely human because of what Cerberus did to resurrect her. With a grimace, Shepard looked into Dr. Chakwas' eyes and admitted to the woman, "yeah, they did."

A loud clatter coming from the direction of the door interrupted the conversation. Shepard whipped her head around, ready to snap at the intruder for eavesdropping, but she stopped when she saw Liara standing rigidly at the door. Shepard's heart started hammering loudly in her ears. "How long have you been here?" She asked slowly.

Liara's lips trembled. "... I'm sorry."

Shepard flinched.

"I-I should go. Here." Liara picked up the items she had dropped and left it on a desk. It was a fresh set of uniform and a datapad. She then promptly fled.

Shepard succinctly summarized all the complicated emotions she was feeling regarding this situation into one word. "Fuck."

x-x-x

Shepard spent the next five days doing paperwork while the Normandy was on route to Nodacrux in the Maroon Sea cluster. The data Tali recovered from the Cerberus underground facility was a proverbial gold mine. Through Widget, Shepard had located a least a dozen more Cerberus facilities in the Voyager cluster alone. One of which was the top secret shipyard where the Normandy SR-2 was currently being constructed, judging by the sheer amount of resources being transported into the facility.

With great care and much deliberation, Shepard manually picked through the raw data and compiled a much smaller list for her next move.

Even though Shepard was absorbed in her work, it was still impossible to not take notice just how awkward it was on the ship. Liara was avoiding her, while the rest of her crew (everyone except Wrex) was stepping on eggshells around her. The entire situation greatly annoyed her, and she had absolutely no clue how to make it better.

The raid at an ExoGeni facility on Nodacrux was a welcomed break. In Shepard's opinion, blasting Thorian creepers with a shotgun was very therapeutic, albeit a bit smelly and messy. Having Wrex and Garrus on her squad helped. The krogan was his usual cheerful self while dealing out mindless violence, and Garrus respected her too much to stick his beak into her personal business.

Following another piece of intel gathered from Feros, Shepard led her team to Chasca and found an entire human colony turned into husks due to Cerberus action. Apparently humans were not off the menu when it came to illegal experimentation for this allegedly pro-human group. Shepard made sure to write a very detailed report to be sent off to both the Alliance and the Council that highlighted the dangerous nature of dragon's teeth, and the crimes Cerberus had committed on Chasca.

Meanwhile, Shepard had stalled on the primary mission given to her by the Council. She had been keeping a very close eye on Noveria, but other than unreliable rumors regarding possible geth interest in the general area, there had been no other news. Lorik Qui'in was still in charge of Synthetic Insights in the Noveria branch, and there was still a steady stream of regular communication chatter coming out of Peak 15. (Han Olar was an avid poetry lover, and he had the habit of posting one haiku a day on the Daily Haiku section on the Galactic Poetry Club extranet forum during lunch hour.)

It seemed Saren had not yet realized that the best way to locate the missing Mu Relay was to extract it from the Rachni Queen's mind. Shepard would have to be patient and wait.

Shepard briefly wondered what the Illusive Man must think of her extranet search keywords. Sexy asari in a pinstripe suit. Most successful turian businessmen. Introspective volus. Poetry daily. Asari commando leather. Toughest bitch in Omega. Biotic cuffs.

Yeah, it was pretty bad. But it was also the only way to search the extranet without rousing people's suspicion. Without Widget, she would have had to manually sort through all the fetish porn to get to the real information. Now that would have been more awkward than having Liara avoid her.

With a defeated sigh, Shepard turned off her work computer and left her cabin. She had been very patient with Liara; now she had had enough. Two weeks was a very long time to avoid someone, especially when they were both stuck on board a tiny spaceship.

Shepard walked resolutely toward the med bay, gave Dr. Chakwas a nod on the way, and finally entered the med bay office for the first time in two weeks.

Liara sensed her immediately. She quickly stood up and stared at Shepard with wide, frightened eyes.

Shepard tried very hard to not feel hurt by the reception she was getting. She failed. "I can leave if you don't want me here." She said quietly, and turned to leave the room. She only got as far as taking one step before Liara bolted forward and seized her wrist.

"Please, stay." Liara pleaded.

Shepard looked down on the blue hand on her wrist, and looked back up to Liara's distraught expression. "Does that mean you are not avoiding me anymore?" She asked.

"What? No! I'm not avoiding you. You are the one who has been avoiding me." Liara exclaimed.

"You are the one who would not look me in the eyes. Even just now, you looked afraid. You didn't want me around, so I gave you space."

Liara grimaced at the accusation. "I'm not afraid of you. I thought you were angry at me for having wronged you."

Shepard was beginning to wonder if she had suffered silently for two weeks over a stupid misunderstanding. "I wasn't angry at you. I just..." she took a deep breath, and admitted in a hushed whisper, "I didn't want you to find out so soon. I didn't want your pity."

"I felt sadness, righteous anger, and even a thirst for cold vengeance, but never pity." Liara said earnestly.

Shepard pulled the maiden into a tight hug. Breathing in the familiar scent of her beloved with a approving hum, she felt all the accumulated stress from the past two weeks steadily drain out of her. She was perfectly content to stay exactly where she was until she felt Liara nuzzling and nipping at her neck.

"I've missed you." Liara murmured next to her ear before pulling a sensitive earlobe between her lips. This particular human anatomy seemed to fascinate her.

"I've missed you, too." Shepard said, moving her hands from Liara's torso down toward her hips. She felt a brief sting of teeth when she took a firm grip, but immediately afterward she felt Liara redoubled her effort at lavishing attention on her earlobe.

Shepard let Liara explore as she wished until she could not stay still anymore. Her lips curved into a smug smirk when she pulled back to take a better look at the maiden's lovely face. Liara's eyes were dark and glossed over, her lips were slightly parted, and the softest shade of lilac was adoring her cheeks. The mere sight of her made Shepard forget to move slow. With a groan, she drove her tongue pass Liara's lips and pushed her into a demanding kiss.

Liara's fingers were in Shepard's short hair, gripping for support as she reciprocated enthusiastically, pushing forward to press her front flush against Shepard's body. But the Commander was physically stronger, so very soon Liara was forced back until the back of her legs were touching the edge of the desk.

Still, Shepard pushed. With a growl, she gripped Liara's bottom with both hands and lifted her up to sit on the desk while her own body settled between Liara's legs. The asari responded to Shepard's advance with a full body shudder before she tilted her head to the side and bared her neck.

None too gently, Shepard ripped open the high collar of Liara's science uniform with one smooth tug. This action earned her a throaty moan from the maiden. She could already taste the sweet pheromone in the air, the distinct scent of arousal that was uniquely Liara's. She traced along the ridge of a delicate neck fold with the tip of her tongue and listened with rapt attention. The sounds she coaxed out of Liara's throat had Shepard panting helplessly for a second before she locked onto the blue flesh with her lips and kissed it hard enough for a purple bruise to form at the spot.

"Joker to Commander Shepard. Admiral Hackett is on the line. Please report to CIC asap."

Shepard tore her lips away from Liara's neck with a curse. After taking a few calming breaths, she briefly turned on the comm device embedded in her uniform and replied, "on my way" in a frosty tone.

"Sorry, Liara. I should go." Shepard said with her eyes closed. She knew if she saw what Liara looked like right now, she would never leave the room.

Liara made a faint noise of agreement and disentangled herself from the Commander. "Joker has the worse timing." She complained breathlessly.

Shepard shook her head as she left the room. "You have no idea."

x-x-x

A/N: This chapter is a little shorter, but I really want to split out the next scene to a different chapter instead of tacking it on here. So there.


	5. I-05: Bring Down the Sky

Book I - Chapter 5: Bring Down the Sky

"Chasing around space monkeys was not exactly what I had in mind when I signed up with the Alliance." Kaidan grumbled as he stripped out of his filthy light Mantis armor in the cargo bay.

"No kidding." Shepard snorted. She had better reflexes than Kaidan, but she was not much better off after a day of wrestling with excrement slinging pyjaks. She broke her favourite N7 medium Onyx armor only two weeks ago; now her spare light Guardian armor was also ruined. Nothing short of an industrial grade acid wash would get rid of the smell. "Great. That's three more sets of armor I have to replace. This is getting expensive."

"Why didn't you just let me shoot those animals?" Ashley complained as she visibly fought against her gag reflex. The dark streaks of pyjak waste really showed up against the white of her heavy Phoenix armor.

Shepard gave the Gunnery Chief a regretful look. "I thought they were kinda cute, until they started throwing crap at us. Next time, I'll sit in the Mako and shoot them with a cannon." And she would have shot them from afar if she had known not to get close. Shepard didn't received this assignment from Admiral Hackett last time, so her foreknowledge did not save her from those little monsters.

Garrus came down from the crew deck to greet the shore party, but he only managed to exit the elevator before he froze on the spot as the foul smell punched him in the face. "What in the… Don't tell me you got it on the seats!" The turian put a hand over his sensitive nose and poked his head inside the vehicle for a fraction of a second before he recoiled in revulsion. "Nooo! It's on the seats! You guys trekked pyjak shit _inside_ the Mako!"

"Believe me when I say we really didn't mean to do that." Shepard said drily. She found an empty crate with an airtight seal and biotic lifted pieces of their soiled armor into the container, not wanting to touch them with her hands. The pungent smell in the cargo bay lost some of its eye-watering edge after she sealed it shut.

"I really hope that data module was worth it." Ashley's face scrunched up in disgust. "Oh Lord, the smell is following me. I need a shower… Oh no! Please tell me it didn't get on our weapons! Damn it, I need to clean those asap!"

Shepard wrinkled her nose in sympathy. "Go wash up, Chief. I think you got some of that in your hair."

"Dear God, no!" Ashley let out a shriek as she dashed toward the elevator.

Kaidan looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "There are only two shower stalls on the ship. Go ahead, Commander. Garrus and I will clean this up."

"Are you sure? I don't want to leave you holding the bag."

"Positive. If you don't mind me making a suggestion though, I think maybe it's time we stop by the Citadel again. I mean, we need to air out the cargo bay, detail the Mako, and get new armor. Not counting the basic light Onyx I in every marine's locker, the only set of light armor we currently have in stock is a Phoenix gathering dust in the requisition officer's stock because no one in their right mind would buy that piece of garbage. The Chief can rock the white and pink, but it looks absolutely hideous on me."

Shepard grinned at the mental image. "Alright, Lieutenant, I completely understand. I'll make sure to pick something more aesthetically pleasing when I equip my crew. Whoever designed the Phoenix line should get their eyes checked. It made _Liara_ look bad."

The last comment made the Lieutenant chuckle ruefully. "I know, that's how bad it is. Sirta Foundation really should stick to producing medi-gel. Even their Omni-tools and Biotic amps suck. So, um, I guess you two aren't fighting anymore? Sorry Commander, feel free to tell me to zip it. It's none of my business anyway."

Shepard was quiet for a moment, but she answered. "No. Was it obvious?"

Kaidan scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "Yeah, it was kind of hard to miss." He paused, and added, "Liara makes you happy. I'm glad things worked out for you two."

"I'm glad, too. That's very nice of you, Alenko. Thanks." Shepard said, and left to take a much needed shower.

x-x-x

Liara always enjoyed her visit to the Citadel. This ancient space station not only served as the heart and soul of the galactic community, it was also an impressive working Prothean monument that never failed to fill her heart with wonder every time she stepped on board. No, not Prothean. The Citadel was built by the Reapers, but still, it was the capital of the Prothean empire.

She was very pleased that Shepard had picked her and Ashley to assist with the supply run this visit. They didn't find anything useful in the Ward, but they lucked out at the C-Sec requisition office. A few sets of higher end armor were in stock, so Shepard snatched them up right away.

They were just about to leave after arranging for delivery when the Commander's Omni-tool pinged. Shepard stared at the message in disbelief and let out a curse under her breath before she walked briskly toward the elevator to the docking bay. Liara and Ashley exchanged a look and followed the Commander quickly.

"Is everything alright?" Liara asked when they were in the elevator.

"No." Shepard answered stiffly.

The rest of the long ride up was spent in silence. One lone figure dressed in Alliance dress uniform was waiting for them on the gangway when the shore party exited the three golden bars on the epaulettes denoted this person to be of the rank of a Captain.

"Ten hut!" Ashley automatically snapped a crisp salute at the higher ranking Alliance officer.

The Commander crossed her arms. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asked impertinently.

Startled by Shepard's show of hostility, Liara's eyes flittered between the unknown Alliance officer and Shepard, trying to decipher the source of the immediate tension. A second later, her blue eyes widened in recognition.

"Do I need a reason to see my own daughter?" Captain Hannah Shepard replied with a question.

"Yes." Shepard answered in a flat tone. "Last time I checked, Kilimanjaro is supposed to be dry-docked in Arcturus station for upgrade. You are the XO, why are you here?"

The Captain shrugged as a smug grin slowly stretched across her face. The casual gesture was identical to the one the Commander usually made. Liara's brain hurt to see it done by another person. "Are you checking up on me now? I didn't know you cared."

Liara could tell Shepard was trying very hard not to get worked up. The muscles along her jaw jumped as she clenched her teeth together to keep her temper in check. "Why. Are. You. Here?"

Standing next to Liara, Ashley was doing her best to appear invisible.

"I'm on shore leave. I thought I might as well drop by and congratulate you in person. Humanity's first Spectre. Good job, kid. I'm proud of you." Captain Shepard said sincerely to her daughter.

The younger Shepard stood very still. Her mother's approval seemed to have been so unexpected, that it stalled whatever scathing retort she was building in mind.

"The Normandy looks amazing. Care to give me a guided tour?" Captain Shepard asked with her eyebrows raised expectantly. Liara swore she had seen that exact same look on her Shepard's face before.

"Sure." Commander Shepard said with a sigh. She straightened up and gestured with a courteous open palmed invite. "After you, Captain."

The crew received the senior Shepard's unexpected visit with predictable disbelief, served with a healthy dollop of awe on top. There she was, the woman who had _birthed_ their commanding officer. Every pair of eyes were doing the exact same thing Liara's had done earlier - jetting back and forth between the two Shepard's. It was impossible not to see the family resemblance. It was all there; the same shape of their noses, the exact shade of green of their eyes, the identical set of determined eyebrows and high cheekbones. They even walked with the same swagger. It was surreal.

Captain Shepard appropriately ooh'd and aah'd at the various features installed in the Normandy. She seemed especially impressed by the large Tantalus drive core as she made the comment that instead of unwieldy heavy cruisers, it would be a better use of resources if the Alliance were to build more Normandy class frigates instead.

That comment earned her a lopsided smile from the junior Shepard. "Now that I've given you the tour, are you going to tell me why you are here, or would you like to keep me guessing?"

Captain Shepard made a noncommittal sound at her daughter's question, and kept her attention on the various monitors in the engine room. "The Normandy's IES stealth system is powered by the Tantalus drive, yes? This ship can drift for days without showing up on a sensor. Excellent feature for a reconnaissance vessel. She could ferry you to hell and back and no one would be the wiser."

Commander Shepard narrowed her eyes. Liara could tell from the way her gaze sharpened that her Shepard was picking up on something she could not quite follow. "She could. But I wasn't given command of the ship just so I can go on a joy ride. I have many other tasks to complete. Stopping Saren, the decrepit old lion, would be on the top of that list."

"Jane," Captain Shepard called her daughter's name softly. "We need to talk."

"I figured there must be a reason why you are here." Commander Shepard let out a soft snort. "My cabin. We can have some privacy in there."

Captain Shepard nodded, and left the engine room with her daughter.

Liara loitered in the mess hall, waiting anxiously as the two Shepard's held a lengthy conversation inside the Captain's cabin. The two did not come out for a long time. When they finally did, both of them looked a lot more at ease with each other. It seemed they had reconciled.

Seeing them together reminded Liara acutely of Benezia. It was a depressing train of thought that would only bring pain to herself, so Liara stopped.

"Take care of yourself." Captain Shepard said, her eyes tracing her daughter's features with an intensity reserved only for her child. For a brief moment, Liara felt the weight of those eyes on her. It was gone as soon as she felt it.

"I will. You take care of yourself, too." Commander Shepard replied.

Captain Shepard gave her daughter a smirk. "I've been a marine since before you were born, kid. No need to worry about me."

"I'm not worried." Young Shepard frowned.

"If you say so." Captain Shepard said, waving a hand dismissively. "I'll walk myself out."

Liara swore Commander Shepard sulked as she watched her mother leave.

x-x-x

Her mother's unexpected visit had derailed her original schedule for the day. Shepard was still reeling from the shock over the big secret her mother revealed to her in private. With all her foreknowledge, Shepard never suspected her mother was hiding something this important from her for almost thirty years. Last time, her mother had kept her silence even though there was no need to anymore. Perhaps that was precisely the reason why the woman had stayed quiet - because it was too late already.

So what had changed?

Maybe it didn't matter. There was no need to dwell on the past, on the might-have-beens. She needed to focus on adjusting her plans to best make use of this new piece of information.

Shepard suited up in her newly acquired Predator M armor and went to grab Liara and Wrex for another visit to the Citadel. With all that scheming, she was finally ready. She had collected enough bargain chips to pay the devil's due.

It was time to visit Barla Von.

The little volus banker did not seem surprised to see her. Shepard was counting on that.

"I had heard of your recent exploits, Spectre. Most impressive." Barla Von said knowingly to Shepard.

"Why am I not surprised you are so well informed?" Shepard said drily. "Here I thought you were only a humble banker."

Barla Von raised a finger to make a regal gesture. "Only one of the best."

"Operating completely within the confine of the laws, too." Shepard said.

"Of course. My clients demand it." Barla Von said with a bow.

Shepard rubbed her chin in a show consideration. "I have accumulated quite a bit of funds recently. Killing geth has net me a lot of goodies. Their techs fetch a pretty price in the market. Other than keeping my crew equipped and my ship running smoothly, I have no time nor interest to manage those credits myself. I do realize what I see as a fortune must have seem a pittance to you. Still, I'm hoping maybe you can help me out."

"Commander Shepard, I believe you are quite mistaken. It is not the amount of credits I manage that sets me apart above my peers; it is my client list. To use a human expression, you, the first human Spectre, will make a very colourful feather on my cap."

Shepard grinned at the volus. "Excellent." She pulled up her Omni-tool and set up a credit transfer. "Here is the credits and instructions. I know I said I have no interest to manage them myself, but I do have some preferences if you don't mind."

Barla Von read the messages on his Omni-tool and hummed thoughtfully to himself. "Not a problem, Commander. This is a very reasonable request. Hmm, how interesting." He looked up at Shepard, his body language showed clear surprise. "Your last instruction. It is very thorough of you to consider such matters so far in advance."

"Is it? I thought it's an eventuality everyone needs to be prepared for. The Council asked me to stop their most decorated former agent, who, by the way, has an entire army of geth to do his bidding, without so much as giving me the funds to arm and armor my crew. I would think they would rather see me fail."

Barla Von recoiled at the knowledge. "You want me to believe the Council has given you nothing?!"

"The Alliance gave me permission to use the Normandy, and they paid for the docking fee here on the Citadel. They also paid their military personnel onboard the Normandy their normal wages. I use my personal funds to equip my crew, as well as paying for all expenses related to refueling, restocking, and maintaining my ship. The Council, instead of the Alliance, pays me my monthly salary now that I'm a Spectre. So no. Other than my normal wages, and a shiny title of Spectre, the Council has provided me no additional resources. All the credits I just transferred over to you to manage, I earned that with the help of my crew."

"This is… unbelievable. They didn't even give you information on Saren?" Barla Von asked faintly.

Shepard gave the volus a wry smile. "Other than, 'we think there might be geth in this area, so you should probably check it out,' nothing."

"That does not make any sense at all. The Council has no reason to see you fail." Barla Von sounded genuinely confused.

Liara spoke up. "Actually, they do. I can see it now. Saren and his geth are hiding in the Traverse, a large area outside of the Council's direct control. The Council does not wish to waste resources on asserting influence outside of Council space. What would be better than sending a human Spectre to an area with mostly human interests? If Shepard succeeds in stopping Saren, then the Council looks good by appointing the right person for the job. If Shepard fails, then the Council can use this as an excuse to make the point that humanity is not ready to have a Spectre, much less a Council seat. They do have more to gain if Shepard fails, but either way, they would always come out the winner. This is despicable."

"Politicians." Wrex summarized with one word.

Shepard shrugged. "I knew what I signed up for. They even slapped me on the wrist for telling reporter Khalisah al-Jilani at the Westerlund News the truth that Saren was responsible for the attack on Eden Prime. Their former agent's reputation, and by extension, the Council's own reputation, is apparently more important than human lives."

Barla Von tilted his head as he regarded the Commander with obvious fascination. "You didn't just come here for banking, or ranting about your boss, Spectre."

"No." Shepard smirked. "I'm repaying a favour I owe to you. You told me that Saren had betrayed the Shadow Broker. I'm here to tell you that the Council is not exactly enthusiastic in their pursuit of taking down Saren. I think the Shadow Broker might find this piece of information enlightening."

"I am honored. Not very many people have the curtesy to do what you just did. I will be sure to relay this message." Barla Von said.

"One other thing." Shepard took out an OSD and handed it to the volus. "I have a job offer for the Shadow Broker. I already have the payment ready. One caveat - I only wish to deal directly with you. I will speak to no other agents. You understand. I have trust issues."

Barla Von carefully tucked the OSD into his pocket. "You are wealthy in the currency of knowledge, Spectre. Very well, I will pass on your job offer. Happy hunting."

x-x-x

The Normandy's next destination was the Amaranthine in the Horsehead Nebula. Shepard had put off the meeting with crime boss Helena Blake for a very long time. This delay was intentional because she needed extensive preparation to pull off a highly risky maneuver.

With Liara and Wrex flanking her sides, Shepard politely knocked on the door of the mercenary hideout.

Helena opened the door, addressing the Commander with a coy smile while her subordinates waited in the back, weapons at the ready. "Commander Shepard, it's good to see you again. I thank you for taking care of my former colleagues."

"My pleasure." Shepard said coolly.

"Here is a small token of my gratitude. Under my leadership, my organization will restrict itself to only gambling and smuggling. No more red sand or slavery." Helena said as she took out a credit chip to hand to Shepard.

The Commander didn't take it. She looked into the crime boss's eyes, and let a smug smile show on her face. "I forgot who, but someone once said to me, 'between credits and a favour, always pick the favour'. Don't you agree?"

Helena's neatly trimmed eyebrows shot up in surprise. "This is… unexpected. I believe you have me at a disadvantage. How may I help you?"

"Consider my previous service free of charge as a show of goodwill. I have a business proposal for you." Shepard took out an OSD and waved it at the crime boss. "I have eight empty Athabasca class merchant freighters docked in Eden Prime, ready to be put to work. I also have a very long list of exact coordinates of valuable minerals that are begging to be extracted. Technically, they are claimed by the Alliance. However, due to bureaucratic inefficiency, it is more than likely they will just sit in a limbo for a very long time before anyone could get to it. Finders keepers, right?"

Helena looked flabbergasted. "But you, I thought…"

"What, I'm the Hero of Elysium, so I must be this paragon of virtue everyone imagined me to be? Please, Miss Blake, you are not that naive."

The wide-eyed look on Helena's face only lasted for about two seconds before it morphed into a look of intense concentration. Shepard could almost picture the gears turning inside the crime boss's head. "No, I'm not naive, but I'm a very good judge of character. You can pretend you are not a hero, but you _are_. You are not doing this for the credits. You want something else from me."

"Let's say you are right about me being a hero. Then you must understand playing the hero is an expensive hobby, Miss Blake. Sometimes the dragon is too tough for one knight in shining armor to slay. One might need an army for that, and no army will march on the promise of glory alone."

Helena studied the Commander carefully. "Is former Spectre Saren the dragon you are trying to slay?"

Shepard tilted her head, and smiled. "No."

Helena looked taken aback by the reply. "No?"

"I would hardly need the help of an army to take down one washed up turian has-been, Miss Blake. I need you and your boys to help me rescue princesses."

Helena let out a bark of laughter. "Rescuing princesses? Commander Shepard, you jest!"

"I wish I were." There was no trace of humor in Shepard's voice. "By my last count, the number was around six hundred and eighty thousands damsels in distress. If you count their guards, it pushes the number up to about a million."

The crime boss almost choked on air at Shepard's admission. "One million! I have sixty men! Have you lost your mind?"

Shepard stared into Helena's eyes; her voice was low and velvety like a caress. "I didn't say I can save them all."

Helena sputtered. Whatever she wanted to say died in her suddenly dry throat when she saw the shadows in the Commander's haunted green eyes.

"Think on my proposal. It will be dangerous work, but you and your men will be well paid. You can find more details in this OSD. We'll talk again soon." Shepard said, and handed the disc to Helena before she left with her squad.

Once they got back into the Mako, Wrex began laughing his ass off at the ridiculousness of it all.

"What's so funny?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just happy I'm right in the thick of all this action. You are one funny human. Saren, geth, Cerberus, Shadow Broker, and now you are tangling with mercs too? Damn, you are one walking trouble magnet. I hope you know what you are doing. The odds of you coming out of this in one piece is looking slim."

Shepard grinned cheekily at the krogan warlord. "You forgot to count the Reapers."

Wrex grinned back. "No need. You'll have to be alive to worry about the Reapers."

"Fair enough." Shepard conceded.

"Shepard." Liara finally spoke up. She had been very quiet during the entire exchange. "This one million lives you spoke of, who are they? Instead of hiring mercenaries, shouldn't you ask the Council or the Alliance to help them?"

The smile on Shepard's face disappeared. For a brief moment, the Commander allowed some of the bitterness and frustration show on her face. "I doubt the Council or the Alliance would spare any resources to save batarians."

Liara gaped at the Commander. "After Mindoir and Elysium, you are doing all this to save _batarians_?"

"Three hundred thousand batarians, plus another six hundred and eighty thousand _cattle_ that are not considered people in their population census."

It took a minute for Liara to find her voice again. "Why do they need to be saved? What are you saving them from?"

Shepard clamped her mouth tightly shut. What could she possibly say to Liara that would make her understand? That she knew of a batarian state secret regarding the Alpha Relay and how it would be destroyed in two year's time by the Alliance's 103rd Marine division to prevent the Reapers from invading through every mass relay simultaneously while delaying their inevitable arrival for a precious six months? That all the inhabitants of the Bahak system would soon be sacrificed as collateral damage for a better chance of survival for trillions others? That without a grand gesture of goodwill from humanity, the batarians would stubbornly refuse to cooperate with the rest of the galaxy even when pushed to the brink of extinction because of their fragile pride?

"I'm saving them from themselves." Shepard finally said after a long silence. And that was all she would allow herself to say.

The Normandy landed to pick up the Mako at the rendezvous point soon after. Before the shore party exited the Mako, Shepard had one more request. "Please keep this to yourself. No one else needs to know. Especially not the Alliance."

"Sure thing." Wrex grinned. "Not gonna spoil your fun."

Liara held her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Anything you ask, Shepard."

"Thank you." Shepard gave the two a grateful nod and climbed out of the Mako.

Maybe after the Reapers were defeated, when they had old age and blue children to look forward to, maybe she would finally tell her beloved the story about the impossible choice she had to make a lifetime ago. But before then, she would keep her silence and shoulder this burden by herself.

She would hold the line.

x-x-x

On Shepard's order, the Normandy stayed in the Horsehead Nebula for a couple more days in stealth mode to conduct surveillance. Unfortunately, there was nary a whisper of geth activity in the area. After much scanning and analysing with nothing to show for, Shepard began to doubt if her memory from last time was faulty. Noveria was as quiet as ever. Benezia was nowhere to be found in the entire Nebula.

A little disappointed by the lack of result, Shepard expanded her search to the neighbouring Exodus cluster, hoping to catch an early warning if Benezia were to come through this mass relay to get to Noveria.

Shepard did not expect to find terrorists instead.

The Normandy's sensors found Asteroid X57, propelled by three fusion torches, deliberately being sent on a collision course with Terra Nova. If the asteroid were not diverted of its current trajectory, millions of people would die in four hours.

Shock was not enough to describe what Shepard was feeling upon hearing this. Nothing like this had happened last time. Terra Nova was the most prosperous human colony in the galaxy, if even a _threat_ of this sort was attempted, it would have been all over the news. She should have at least heard of it. But no, this was completely new to her. Shepard did not want to believe her actions this time had somehow triggered this attack, so the next most logical conclusion was that the same terrorist attack did happen last time, and someone else had stopped it quietly.

The only name came to mind was Cerberus.

It made sense. Despite all the deplorable deeds Cerberus had done in the name of advancing humanity, the organization would never have allowed such a large scale attack to happen on their own backyard - not when Cerberus had committed so much resources in Terra Nova already.

Shepard was not at all concerned about Cerberus's role in preventing a terrorist attack. It was the fact that she was completely unaware that something this important had taken place that had her reeling. All of her plans were made based on her foreknowledge. And now she just got clobbered over the head with the fact that her all-important foreknowledge was severely lacking. It was a sobering thought.

What else did she miss?

"Wrex, Liara, suit up. Joker, drop us on that rock. Stay quiet and close. Pressly, alert the Alliance and start the countdown." Shepard said in a clipping tone.

"Ma'am, should we contact Terra Nova to start the evacuation?" Pressly asked.

Shepard shook her head. "No, there is no time. We'll only create a mass panic if this gets out. Worse case, concentrate fire at the fusion torches and blow the whole thing sky high if we can't pull the rock off its collision course."

"Aye, aye." Pressly acknowledged his commanding officer's order with a salute.

This Mako drop felt a lot more intense than any previous ones she had been in. For one thing, the backdrop of the blue planet that four million people called home was a constant reminder what consequences they would face if this mission failed.

Near the drop site, they found a human body with a bullet hole in the back of the head.

"Execution style." Wrex grunted.

Shepard's fists clenched. She had a feeling who those terrorists might be.

 _Batarians._

"Let's hurry." Shepard said flatly.

Shepard led the squad back to the Mako and began to approach the nearest torch carefully. On the way over, the Mako's comm system picked up a distress call. This woman begged the squad to shut down the torches in a hushed voice. It was obvious she was scared out of her mind not just for herself, but also for the four million inhabitants on Terra Nova.

"Turrets. Wrex, focus fire. Liara, keep an eye on the shield." Shepard ordered as she drove in a loose circle to dodge multiple armor-piercing rounds flying toward them. The proximity turrets were quite annoying, but they were also slow. Having had to dodge thresher maw acids in a Mako before, dodging turret fire was not that much trouble to the team.

Shepard's suspicion was confirmed when they disable the turrets and snuck inside the torch station. "Why am I not surprised?" She muttered darkly to herself. It took a stupendous amount of effort and self discipline to not scream at the batarians in a fit of rage.

Why did it have to be _batarians_ again? She was trying so hard to do the right thing, to unite _all_ the races to fight against the Reapers. Why did the batarians always have to make it so damn hard? It made her question why she even bothered to divert her already very limited resources to save batarians, instead of putting them to better uses somewhere else.

Shepard was sorely tempted to change her plan and pull all her resources out of Operation Exodus. When the Reapers come in two year's time, she would just tell the batarians to go fuck themselves. The galaxy would be better off without the batarians around.

With a snarl, Shepard pulled up a singularity with one hand and a shotgun with another. Batarian troopers and their war varrens lurched back mid-charge by her mass effect field, all of them flailing helplessly in the air before they were torn apart by concentrated gunfire.

A second group of batarians attempted to charge right after the first group, hoping to catch the squad off guard before they were ready for the second volley. Unfortunately, Liara was too fast for them and lifted the entire group with a wave of her hand. Wrex followed up on the attack and created a warp field before blasting the weakened enemies with his shotgun.

The few stragglers were easy to pick off after that. In a fit of sadistic pleasure, Shepard froze the last batarian sniper in a stasis before she walked up to close range and unloaded a full clip of incendiary bullets into the batarian's gut. She didn't stop until she felt a hand on her back.

"Shepard." Liara's voice was soft and calm. It brought a moment of clarity amidst the haze of battle lust.

Shepard lowered her arm and turned around slowly to take in the look of concern in Liara's eyes. All of a sudden she realized her face had contorted into a mask of fury while her breaths came in harsh puffs of ragged gasps. It took conscious effort for her to smooth out her expression and slowed down her breathing. Still, her body shook from the after effect of the adrenaline rush and could not be calmed in the span of a few seconds.

Liara reached over to the back of the Commander's neck and pulled her into a hug.

Even when fully armored, Shepard could feel the effect of this physical contact. Her tense shoulders relaxed and the shaking stopped. A very different type of tension took the place of battle lust and began to set her blood to boil. Her face flushed, Shepard hugged Liara tighter as the sudden need clawed at her belly.

"Easy there, Shepard. If human bloodrage is anything like krogan bloodrage, you might want to step away from the girl. That will have to wait." Wrex commented with obvious humour in his gravelly voice.

Shepard jumped back out of the hug as if burnt. This had happened many times before. During the Reaper invasion, they would often seek comfort in each other's arms at the end of the day after each battle. Sometimes after a particularly difficult mission, their encounter would devolve into a state of frenzy that edged on aggression until they were both mindlessly lost in bringing each other to screaming release.

There were still a few thin scars on her back from the night after Thessia.

But this Liara was not yet _hers_. This young maiden was still innocent and unscarred by horrific losses inflicted upon her by war. It would be selfish and wrong to burden Liara with her own needs in a moment of weakness. She had promised to be patient and she would keep that promise.

More importantly, this was not the time nor the place.

"Sorry, Liara. Don't touch me until this mission is over." Shepard shook her head a few times to clear the cobwebs.

It was apparent that Liara did not understand what was wrong with Shepard because she looked even more concerned than before. Still, she trusted Shepard enough to not argue with her request.

Shepard bit her lower lip until she tasted blood. The pain brought her mind to a sharp focus. "I'll explain later. Right now we need to focus on the mission."

Later, she might need to draw a flowchart to help her explain the step by step process of getting extremely emotional in the heat of a battle, getting lost in a state of rage and fury, slipping into a caveman state of mind, and wanting to channel that aggression by having loud, violent sex with the woman she had been lusting after for the longest time. It was called battle lust for a reason. This might be a straightforward concept to understand for battle hardened war veterans, but probably not to a virgin.

On second thought, it might be easier if she pretended nothing was wrong. She didn't want to heap undue pressure on Liara when she talked about how much she wanted to rip off her clothes and fuck her brains out.

They search the building and found the terminal that controlled the fusion torch. As soon as she disabled the torch, she was contacted by the same woman who sent them the distress call earlier.

"Those batarians, you've pissed them off. Be careful. They're here… I-I need to go." The woman - Kate Bowman - warned in a fearful whisper before she hastily disconnected.

Shepard grinded her teeth as she felt red hot anger simmering in her chest again. "Two more. Let's go."

They did one last check to make sure there were no more batarians hiding inside the facility to turn the torch back on, and moved out. Their exit was interrupted by a gunshot from a skittish human male in the entry way.

Shepard looked down on the blue ripples pulsing across the kinetic shield of her armor, and then looked up at the terrified human holding a pistol with shaky hands. "Really? Do you think that would have been enough to slow down a squad of batarian troopers?"

The old man pulled his hands up in a gesture of peace. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I thought you were..."

"Batarians, yeah, no. I'm Commander Shepard, Council Spectre, human. You are?"

"Simon Atwell, chief engineer of Asteroid X57." Simon introduced himself. He was about to say something else when he did a double take. "Wait, you're _the_ Commander Shepard?! My granddaughter asked for your action figure for her birthday…! My family. They are on Terra Nova. Oh God, we have to shut off those torches! Otherwise, millions are going to die!"

"That's what we are here for. Calm down. Do you know anything else that might help us out?" Shepard asked, pretending not to hear about the part about her _action figure_. She could freak out about that later.

Simon thought for a second and nodded. "Yes. There are blasting caps surrounding the central torch station. We were planning to do some excavating before the batarians came. You'll have to approach on foot. Oh man, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make your job more difficult than it has to be."

Shepard waved him off. "Not your fault. At least now we know not to drive in on Mako. Anything else?"

Simon hesitated for a moment before he asked, "I know there are more important things to worry about, but if you see any of my engineers… They were out doing surveys. They could still be alive. Those batarians are ruthless. I've seem them smashing up the faceplates of guys working vacuum. And those varrens… Nasty beasts."

"A woman called Kate Bowman contacted us. Is she one of yours?"

"Katie is alive?" Simon looked happily surprised. "Yes, she is my best engineer. Her brother Aaron works security. He might be alive, too."

"Let's hope we find them before the batarians do. Lock yourself in the control room and guard the console. If more batarians come, shoot the console. We can't let them turn the torch back on. You think you can do that?" Shepard asked.

Simon gripped his pistol tighter and squared his shoulders. "Yes, Commander. I can do that for my grandchildren and all the lives on Terra Nova."

"Good man." Shepard said, and left with her team.

The Commander understood she had just asked a civilian who could barely shoot straight to sacrifice his own life for million of others if push came to shove. She had done the same thing during the Blitz, rallying untrained colonists - elderlies, underaged teeangers, farm hands and dock workers who had never held a gun - and organized them into militias that could hold off slavers and pirates that were thirty times their number.

She hoped she could take out the terrorists first before it came down to that.

Simon's warning about the blasting cap was a bit redundant but still appreciated. Her onboard helmet sensor was good enough to mark out the location of each mine on the HUD. The slight complication was the batarian snipers raining down fire at them from a distance as they navigated across the minefield.

Shepard took a deep breath and _charged_. Brilliant blue streaks of biotic energy surrounded her body as she shot across the minefield, sending a group of three batarians flying in all directions. Two of them died instantly upon impact. One follow-up biotic punch later, and the last batarian sniper was killed when his faceplate caved into his skull.

Liara and Wrex gaped at her with their jaws hanging loose.

"Now _that_ proves you're part krogan, Shepard." Wrex was impressed. He turned to give Liara a sympathetic look. "I hope _you_ are part krogan, too. Not sure if you can handle her by yourself if you're not."

"What? Why? I don't understand." Liara looked very confused.

"Don't worry about it. Let's get moving." Shepard said with a growl. She had been very careful not to show too much biotic proficiencies in front of people, but now her blood was hot and her biotic was roaring through her body in intoxicating waves, it was very difficult to rein herself in. Shepard silently berated herself for the momentary lack of restrain. The last thing she needed was to draw more eyes on her by showing abilities she was not supposed to have yet. It could have seriously compromised her plans.

She was lucky it was Liara and Wrex who saw her. If Kaidan were on the squad, he would have asked so many uncomfortable questions.

They disabled the blasting caps from the terminal near the door and entered the second torch station. There were a couple batarian engineers inside, and the first thing they did was to overheat their weapons. This would have been a sound strategy if their opponent were not powerful biotics.

Keeping a tight control over her surging biotics, Shepard slipped into a semi-meditative state of hyperawareness. In quick succession, she lifted the group of batarians troopers and their war varrens, created a singularity a little further away to ensnare the two batarian snipers hiding behind crates, warped them while they were clustered together mid-air, and threw them all back with enough force to kill them in one hit.

The beeping sound of her overheated pistol finally died down after the bodies hit the ground. She had killed five batarians and two varrens without firing a shot.

While she was busy dealing with the enemies charging at them, Liara was covering her flank with her biotics. Wrex didn't have the patience to wait for his assault rifle to cool down and switched to shotgun to assist Liara. By the time Shepard rejoined the battle, there were only a couple snipers hiding on the second floor. Shepard dashed up the stairs and unceremoniously threw them off the balcony.

After they shut off the second torch, Kate Bowman contacted them again. Her message this time was far more ominous than the previous one. Shepard held her breath as she listened to the batarian terrorist leader demanding to know who was responsible for shutting down the torches. When Kate refused to answer, the batarian executed one of the hostage in cold blood. Shepard could imagine how terrifying it must have been for this civilian.

The Commander made a silent promise to do her best to save this woman.

They exited the building and headed toward the last active torch station. On the way over, they found two more bodies. One was shot in the back by a sniper while running away, the other one was killed by explosive when the woman had barricaded herself inside the survey shack.

Shepard scowled as she listened to the audio recording of the woman's last words before she was killed in the blast. "Explosives and hostages. This is not a good combination. They also have skilled engineers to hack into the torch stations and enough troopers to guard them. Whoever planned this attack knew what they were doing. They are also very, very stupid. This is the part that scares me the most."

Liara gave Shepard a questioning look at the last comment, but she only shook her head.

They continued toward the last fusion torch station. They were met with similar resistance as at the previous two locations. Knowing exactly what to expect by now, the team cleaned up the place in no time and shut off the torch. However, something unexpected happened on their way out. A group of batarians were waiting for the squad with their weapons down.

"Hold your fire! This doesn't have to end in bloodshed." The leader of the group shouted across the room with his hands up.

Shepard holstered her pistol and slowly approached the group. She gave the leader a once over before she fixed her gaze a little above his nose, right in the middle of his four eyes. With a deliberate tilt of her head to her right to show her superiority, Shepard said in an authoritative tone, "I am Commander Shepard, Spectre of the Citadel Council, commanding officer of the Alliance frigate Normandy. My station entitles me to your rank and name, batarian."

The batarian leader stiffen his posture defiantly for a moment, before he finally tilted his head to the left to show respect. "I am Charn Korragan of Camala, second-in-command under Balak. Look, I thought we were going for a quick slave grab. I never signed up for this."

Shepard kept an even stare. Her green eyes were cold and flat. "Your crime of attempted slave raid in human territory is enough cause for me to execute you on the spot. Make your appeal. Explain to me why I shouldn't kill you right now."

Charn's eyes darted downward in deference. "I've made the mistake of following Balak's lead. The guy is a mean bastard. I don't want to kill millions of innocent people just to make a point. If you let me and my men go, I will give you my word I won't come back to human territory again."

Shepard crossed her arms, a gesture to show she intended to negotiate and not to draw her weapons. "Not good enough. Honor demands your punishment to be befitting of your crime. Your words as a fool is as empty as your sightless eyes."

"I am not a blind fool! You dare to insult my intelligence, two eyes?" Charn straighten up his posture, his hand balled into fists. All four of his eyes darted around in anger.

"You are a fool, for you followed a fool. You are blind, for you do not see the the consequences of his actions. Do you only perceive the millions of innocent humans on Terra Nova to be the victim of Balak's ill-conceived scheme? You might as well poke out your own eyes if that is all you foresee." Shepard said, narrowing her eyes at the angry batarian.

Seeing the look of displeasure on Shepard's face, Charn unclenched his fists and tilted his head back to the left once again.

Shepard pointed a finger at Charn's face, a batarian gesture reserved for imparting knowledge to an inferior from a superior. "Humans are vindictive and vengeful. Ever since the very first batarian slave raid in human territory, humans have been looking for an excuse to start a war with the hegemony. This attack on Terra Nova will be the perfect reason for humans to exterminate the batarians without incurring the Council's disapproval. Batarians will follow the fate of the Rachnis. Billions of batarians will die because of one batarian's zeal. Tell me, Charn Korragan of Camala, what is the appropriate punishment for facilitating your own race's genocide?"

"... Death." Charn replied. He knelt down, take out his folded assault rifle and shotgun, and lay them in front of him.

One by one, all the batarians followed Charn's lead and knelt down before disarming themselves. Including Charn, Shepard had twelve batarians kneeling before her.

Shepard bit her tongue to prevent even a trace of her surprise to show on her face. She had hoped to pressure Charn into giving her information on Balak or even helping her save the hostages. Not in a million years had she expect to have all these batarians throwing themselves at her feet to pledge willing servitude.

Back in the Reaper War, she had helped a batarian preacher recover their religious artifact from Kite's Nest. Out of curiosity, she had read through the batarian holy text, Pillars of Strength. The content gave her some insight regarding batarian culture and customs. Most interesting of all, was their integral caste system involving slavery. At the time, she thought it was fascinating to learn of their rigid social structure and intricate body language. She never thought she would one day apply that knowledge to practical use.

Shepard walked up to Charn, pulled out her pistol, and lightly pressed the muzzle between his eyes. "I accept. Your life is mine. Your subordinates' lives are mine." She declared solemnly, and withdrew the pistol. "I will use them as I deem fit. You may call me Master."

"You are wise as you are powerful. I will not bring dishonor to your name, Master." Charn replied, bowing his head low.

Shepard gestured the kneeling batarians to stand. "Charn, inform me of Balak's defence at the main facility."

Her newest indentured servant began with a warning. "Balak is fond of explosives. Before I left, he ordered his men to put up charges around the facility. A couple of his subordinates are very good engineers. You can expect more turrets and defense drones. He also has three hostages. I suspect he will use them as bargaining chips now that his plan has failed." He took out a pass and handed it to Shepard. "You will need this to get inside the main facility."

"Good." Shepard let a bloodthirsty grin show on her face. "Wait here and guard the torch station in case Balak sends more men to turn it back on. I'll come back to give you more instructions once I pull out Balak's eyes for his transgression."

"Understood, Master." Charn gave her a sideway nod in submission.

"Let's go." Shepard said to her squadmates, who had been watching the entire exchange in stunned silence.

They left the station, entered the Mako, and quickly headed toward the main facility.

Wrex finally found his voice. "I've lived for a very long time, I've seen all kinds of weird shit go down. Can't say I've seen anything like this before. I know you have a silver tongue, Shepard. I didn't think it was possible to talk a dozen batarians into calling a human Master."

"You think you are surprised? Fuck, I can hardly believe it myself." Shepard let out a hysterical laugh. "Did that really just happen? I was only following what their holy text said I should do in this kind of situation. 'Show power. Show wisdom. Flaunt thy superiority through better rule. Master over your lessors. Honor thy station through deeds. Unyielding, be one Pillar of Strength.'"

Liara gave her an open mouth stunned look. "You've read the batarian religious text?"

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep, and the thing was right in front of me. I thought it would knock me out like a light." Shepard said a bit defensively. "Ah, crap. How am I gonna explain this to the brass?"

"You don't. We'll keep our mouths shut. No one would believe you anyway." Wrex said simply.

The main facility was guarded by six proximity turrets. By now, Shepard was very sick of those machines. Instead of being extra cautious when facing armor-piercing cannon fire, she stepped on the gas and drove mad circles around the oversized guns, dodging while returning shots. Perhaps it was a good thing Garrus and Kaidan were not part of this mission, otherwise they would have screeched her ears off.

The first thing Shepard did upon entering the main facility was to activate Widget's cyberwarfare function and left it running in stealth mode. Once again, Shepard was very glad to have brought Liara along because Balak's engineers were overheating their weapons again. She decided to targeted them first, leaving all other enemies in her squadmates' capable hands. As she was running around the place, dodging rockets while trying to track down all the batarian engineers, Widget had marked out the location of all the bombs inside the building and began ripping out their remote detonation algorithm from the onboard micro-frame.

After she killed the engineers, the rest did not pose much challenge. Shepard resisted the impulse to charge at the shock troopers located across the room again. Instead, she lifted them above the crates and shot them with her pistol.

Balak made his dramatic entrance with a few bodyguards after Shepard's squad dispatched all of his men. "You humans. You are almost more trouble than you're worth!" The terrorist leader growled menacingly at the Commander.

Shepard tilted her head to the right, and made it extra insulting by sneering at Balak while casually brushing her hands. "I'm just getting started."

"Predictable. But this is over. I'm leaving this asteroid. If you try to stop me, I'll detonate these charges and your helper and her friends are all going to die." Balak said, confident in his gambit.

Shepard's lips pulled back in a snarl. Through her cybernetic eyes, she could see Widget had already disarmed the last bomb located inside the room where the hostages were locked in. Whatever leverage Balak thought he could use against her was gone. "Over my dead body. You don't get to leave. Not after what you've done."

Balak looked outraged. "What I've done? This is nothing compared to what's been done to the batarians."

Shepard had no patience for a madman's rambling. "You call killing millions of innocent people nothing? You are starting a war, you dimwit. A war that will lead to billions of batarians dead. We humans are stronger than you batarians. Or are you too arrogant to see reality? All we need is a good reason to go to war. And you are dumb enough to hand us a perfect excuse on a silver platter. Even the peace loving Council would not stop this war if you had dropped this rock on Terra Nova."

"You lie! Humans will be weakened and demoralized. We will take back what is rightfully ours!" Balak barked at the Commander.

Shepard interrupted his incoherent rant with her own retort. "Your comments only serve to demonstrate your ignorance. You know nothing of humanity. We are the most vindictive, tenacious, resilient, indomitable sapien species in the galaxy. Kill a million of us, and we will kill a billion of you. We always fight back. This is a fact."

She pointed at Balak's face with a finger, addressing him as his superior. "You have three choices. One, I can arrest you in the name of the Alliance and you will stand trial for your crime of attempted genocide, inciting war, and multiple counts of murder. Two, I can execute you on the spot with the authority granted to me as the Council Spectre. Three, by the law of batarian, I can exact righteous vengeance for the disgraceful deeds you've committed and pull your eyes out so everyone will see you for a blind honorless coward that you are. Which one do you choose?"

Balak pulled up his Omni-tool. "Die! Humans!" He shouted and activated the detonation sequence of all the bombs inside the facility.

Except, nothing happened.

"Three it is." Shepard said, and dropped a stasis over Balak.

His bodyguards died quickly. Liara was fast with her biotics, and Wrex was even faster with his shotgun. Less than twenty seconds later, Balak was the only enemy left.

Shepard stood in front of the frozen batarian with her eyes closed in concentration. A brilliant glow of cyan blue enveloped her as she used her biotics to reinforce her body. The moment the stasis expired, she punched him dead centre between his eyes. Her fist crushed through his skull, and the sheer force expelled all four of his eyes out of their sockets in one sickening squelch.

Balak's body crumbled bonelessly on the ground, facing up. Though out of their sockets, his eyeballs were still somewhat connected to his head through thin strands of nerves and muscles. This macabre sight of her fallen enemy provoked a deep sense of sadness within her.

"I let him choose. He chose this." Shepard said softly.

"He did." Wrex said, shaking his head. "Miserable bastard."

x-x-x

A/N: There isn't much canon material on batarians, so I'm taking a lot of liberty. Hopefully my headcanon is close enough.


	6. I-06: So It Began

Book I - Chapter 6: So It Began

Shepard sat in her office chair, playing with an OSD in her left hand, deep in thought. Within this disc was a copy of the security camera footage inside the main facility of Asteroid X57 during the terrorist attack. She had asked Simon about security cameras as an afterthought, thinking it might be helpful to be used to prevent similar attacks from happening again in the future. She did not expect Simon's eyes to light up in excitement at her question.

As luck would have it, the only security camera on this rock was perfectly situated to capture the entire exchange - the initial attack when the batarians slaughtered every human they could find, Balak ordering his men to put up charges everywhere, Shepard's squad storming in and killing all the terrorists, Shepard facing off the terrorist leader, and of course, the grisly end of an insane fanatic at the hand of the Hero of Elysium. It was all very dramatic. Practically Blasto material.

Barely an hour later after the discovery of this footage, it was already circulating on the extranet. Not the full video, just the most exciting fifteen minutes at the end. Simon was very keen on showing the entire world the truth of what happened on X57, and how close Terra Nova had come to complete annihilation.

Some guy on the extranet name N7CS1FAN had made a five second animated loop of her punching Balak's eyes out in slow mo and tagged it #eyepopping. The clip went viral. It was currently number two on the Alliance News Network trending chart, right after #vaenia, the latest and greatest adult film of the entire galaxy, apparently.

Sex and violence. The two things that never failed to capture humanity's attention.

There were people advocating for awarding Shepard her second Star of Terra, while some skeptics questioning the legitimacy of the video clip. There were also a very small but vocal group of people calling for her removal as a Spectre because she was obviously violent and disturbed and therefore unsuitable to represent humanity. The latter two groups got a lot quieter once the full four hour long unedited footage was uploaded onto the net.

The reactions from the rest of the galaxy was a bit more varied. Turians admired her ruthlessness, salarians commended her efficiency, asaris applauded her excellent feat of biotics. As for batarians, the hegemony was deafeningly quiet on this topic. There was no loud proclamation of outrage, no threat, no protest. Nothing. It was as if they refused to acknowledge the whole incident had ever happened.

Her inbox exploded with emails as soon as the news came out. Widget had been put to work sifting through all the messages and picking out important mail from fan mail, hate mail, junk mail, and requests for interviews. She didn't want to know how those people got a hold of her Alliance email address. It was worse than after Elysium.

Shepard wasn't sure what to feel about any of this. She wasn't involved in this mission last time; it would be impossible for her to accurately predict what kind of far-reaching consequences there might be.

The Alliance wasn't much help either. The only response Admiral Hackett gave upon receiving her official mission report was a one sentence verbal reply. "You've saved a lot of lives, Commander. Good work." And that was that. Shepard had no idea what the higher-ups were actually thinking.

The Council was also suspiciously quiet. Perhaps they thought she was only dealing with internal human affairs and decided to stay out of it. It would be great if that were the case. She had no desire to endure yet another lecture from Valern about getting distracted from her primary mission.

The door to her cabin hissed open. Shepard turned her head and saw Liara standing there.

"Hey." Shepard greeted her with a small smile.

Liara locked the door. "I just want to see how you are doing." She said, walking toward Shepard and sitting on her bed.

"I'm fine."

Liara frowned. "No, you're not."

Shepard sighed. "No, I'm not. But I will be."

Liara scooched back onto the bed and patted the spot next to her. "Come here." She said with her arms outstretched.

Shepard climbed onto the bed and hugged the woman she loved. Liara tucked the Commander's head under her chin and let it rest on her breasts while rubbing soothing circles on her back with a hand. They stayed like this for a long while.

"Joker to Commander Shepard. ETA to Eden Prime in five minutes."

Shepard jerked awake. She was having the most restful sleep in a long while, and she was not pleased to be woken up. "One of these days, I will be able to spend some time with you alone without interruption." Shepard muttered.

"That sounds absolutely lovely." Liara said sleepily. "I maintain my previous assertion that Joker has the worst timing ever."

"I concur." Shepard yawned and stretched. "Thanks. I feel much better now." She said and kissed Liara tenderly before she got up.

"I'm glad." Liara looked very pleased.

x-x-x

Shiala was waiting at the drop point when the Normandy touched down on Eden Prime. The asari commando looked exasperated with the Commander when she greeted her. "You need to be a bit more descriptive next time, Commander. Your _guests_ almost caused a panic. The timing could not have been any worse, considering."

Shepard scratched her head. "I know, I'm sorry. I can't be any clearer even if I wanted to. It was all very last minute. You understand."

"I do. Though it still boggles my mind how you accomplished this impossible feat. Your other guests are here as well. I have arranged a secure location for the meeting." Shiala said, and looked at Shepard's two squadmates. "Would you like these two to accompany you or would you like them to wait outside?"

Shepard gave Liara and Wrex a questioning look.

Wrex shrugged. "I don't care for meetings. I'll wait outside. I'll make sure no one is snooping."

"If you will have me, I would like to join." Liara said.

"Alright, let's go." Shepard said.

Shiala led the two into the labyrinth of the residential complex the colonists from Feros had built. "Would you like to know what the colonists chose as the name of this new colony? On Feros, it was called Zhu's Hope after the original colonist leader Dr. Zhu. Here, they decided to name it after you." She pointed at the large horizontal sign hanging above the double doors to the largest building that also served as the community centre of this colony.

Two armed colonists were guarding the doors outside. They smiled broadly and saluted upon seeing the Commander. It appeared Shiala had done a lot in one month to train up the colonists into fledgling militias.

Shepard saw the sign and did a double take. "Janestown." She breathed.

"Better get used to it. I suspect there will be a lot of babies named Shepard on Terra Nova." Shiala said, before pushing the double doors open to let the party in.

Three people were already waiting for them inside. Shepard was only expecting two. She took a seat at the conference table as she greeted everyone. "Blake, Charn. And you are?" She asked.

The man Shepard did not recognized looked every inch a hardened mercenary. He had a large disfiguring scar on the right side of his face, and he had an dangerous aura about him. Shepard could identify a seasoned warrior when she saw one. "Zaeed Massani. I'm here to repay a favour to Blake."

Seeing the slight frown on Shepard's face, Helena quickly explained, "Zaeed is a trusted friend. He is one of the best in the trade. You will need firepower for the work you want done."

Shepard nodded. "You know what you're in for?" She asked Zaeed.

The mercenary shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm getting paid. I don't very much care. I am the best for a reason. You pay me, you can have my complete loyalty until the job is done. Or until you betray me."

"He gets half of what you promised me. A fair trade for a better chance to keep my men alive." Helena said.

"Sound investment." Shepard approved. Pulling up her Omni-tool, she input a few commands and activated the display function. A small holographic image of Sovereign hovered over her wrist. "This is a Reaper known as Sovereign. The Council will have everyone believe it is a geth dreadnaught, but that is a lie. The Reapers are an ancient sentient race of machines that caused the Prothean extinction fifty thousand years ago. There is a legion of them currently waiting in the dark space, gearing up for a repeat performance. They do this once every fifty thousand years. Dr. T'Soni here, our Prothean expert, called it 'the Cycle of Extinction'."

Helena, Charn, and Zaeed stared at her with their mouths open.

Shepard continued. She pulled up the audio file Tali recovered from a geth hard drive and played the clip before she explained, "Reapers have advanced technologies that allow them to take direct control of synthetics and indoctrinate organics. When exposed to Reaper techs, even someone with a strong will can lose their mind. Matriarch Benezia is one such victim. I suspect Saren is one as well. Shiala is the only person who has ever broken out of Reaper indoctrination, due to extraordinary circumstances that is unlikely to be replicated. She got mind-controlled twice. When I killed her second master, she was inexplicably freed from her first master."

Shiala added, "this is true. The indoctrination process is insidious. The voice whispers constantly in your head, and eventually this voice becomes indistinguishable from your own thoughts."

Next, Shepard pulled up the image of Bahak system. She could tell from the way Charn's eyes widen, the batarian recognized it, too. "This is the Bahak system, a batarian territory at the edge of the galaxy. This system houses the Alpha Relay, the oldest relay in existence. The Reapers, not the Protheans, built the relays. They left a special function for this one relay as their Plan B."

Helena couldn't help herself. "What's Plan A then?"

"Remotely unlock the mass relay hidden inside the Citadel and jump in with their entire fleet to wipe out the centre of our galactic community. Take control of every mass relay through the Citadel, isolate every world, and slaughter every single advanced organic life just as they have done numerous times before."

The look on Helena's face told Shepard she had regretted asking. This time, Zaeed asked the question instead. "What's Plan B?"

"In case something went wrong and the hidden mass relay inside the Citadel fails to be unlocked, the Reaper fleet will resort to FTL travel and head toward Alpha Relay. The special function I mentioned earlier would allow the fleet to jump to any system directly from Alpha Relay. From there, they can invade every single world simultaneously."

"How can you possibly know any of this?" Helena raised her voice in disbelieve.

It was Charn who replied. "The hegemony has long been aware of Alpha Relay's true capability. This is supposed to be a highly guarded secret only the batarians know…"

"Just like the Leviathan of Dis? The hegemony is not very good at keeping secrets. I suppose it is useless to tell you that the dreadnaught is actually a Reaper corpse, that any contact with Reaper tech, even a dead one, will more than likely result in indoctrination. The hegemony will never let this piece of advanced technology go. When the Reapers come in force, expect indoctrinated batarian servants sabotaging every effort to fight back. It's already too late. Their fate was sealed the moment they decided to hoard the advanced tech without taking proper precaution." Shepard said grimly, rubbing her forehead with a hand.

Charn stared at Shepard in stunned silence.

Shepard put a hand on Charn's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Don't feel bad, Charn. Batarians are not the only ones to tumble into this pitfall. Humans are way worse when it comes to greed. The leader of the pro-human terrorist organization, Cerberus, rose rapidly into power because he had access to Reaper tech as well. The arrogant sod didn't even know he was indoctrinated. He believes he can control the Reapers for his own gain. Can you believe him? A servant of the Reapers having the delusion of taking control of his own master. He is helping the Reapers and he doesn't even know it."

"So what now?" Zaeed asked gruffly.

"Something went wrong with their Plan A; that's why they are using Saren to fix it. I stop Saren, the Reapers will fall back to Plan B. To delay their inevitable arrival at the Alpha Relay, we need to remove the relay itself. The only way to do that is to hurl an object large enough at it to overcome the relay's enormous kinetic barrier. The resulting explosion will most likely cause the entire system to supernova, killing everyone in it. Without the Alpha Relay, the Reapers will have to invade this galaxy the old fashion way - one mass relay at a time. We will have advanced warning to set up strategic defense points, and we won't be cut off from our supply lines. Millions will die so trillions will have a chance to fight back."

"Dear God." Was all Helena could say to that.

"But I don't want to sacrifice millions. Why should I? The Reapers are not here yet." Shepard said with a fierce glint in her smoldering green eyes. "This is a race against time. The Council refused to acknowledge the existence of the Reapers. Believe me, I've tried. They laughed at me when I warned them the sky was falling. The Alliance will rather kiss turian ass than lift a finger to help the batarians. The hegemony is already compromised because of the Reaper corpse in their possession. We are on our own, but I refuse to do nothing."

"Tell me what you need me to do. I will do anything you ask, Master." Charn asked earnestly.

Shepard smiled. "My original plan was to have mercenaries conducting raids to encourage the batarians to leave Bahak on their own. It was a pretty shitty plan. Now that I have you, I can do better. As a batarian, you can declare yourself a warlord and lead the raid to take as much territory as you can in Bahak. You can keep a close watch on the Alphy Relay while starting on the evacuation."

Charn looked a bit hesitant. "Warlord? Me? I'm merely a warrior caste. I do not deserve to be a warlord."

"You will earn the title through deeds. You will bleed for your subjects and lead them away from certain doom. I have confidence you will rule wisely. Train the batarians under you into a force that can repel the Reapers. Shiala and all the colonists here have already begun building underground bunkers and defenses for the coming invasion. She needs manpower. Bring her all the non-batarian slaves from Bahak and sell them to Shiala. I have no issue with indentured servants, and I understand slavery is an integral part of batarian culture and economy, that's why I'm not asking you to break your culture taboo by freeing them. But I do loath to see this practise being forced on other races, so Shiala will be the one to free the slaves. Are we clear?"

Charn bowed his head. "Yes, Master. I will do my best."

"How many men can you muster?" Shepard asked.

"I have eleven with me on the asteroid, and I can bring in another seventy batarians from Omega. I also have access to four fighters, three frigates, and a carrier. After seeing what you did to Balak, they will fall in line. That Eyepopper is forever seared into every batarian's retina. No one will forget it any time soon. You have demonstrated to be a woman of your words, Master. You said you would pull out his eyes as his punishment, and you delivered." Charn said.

"Eyepopper?" Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"That's what people call it now. Some people called it the Shepard Punch, or the Batarian Blinder. I prefer the Eyepopper. Descriptive and to the point." Charn said with some humor in his voice.

"I see." Shepard turned to Helena and asked, "how many of your men agreed to this?"

Helena smiled grimly. "All sixty of them, plus Zaeed. Ship wise, I have two fighters, two frigates, and a freighter."

"And I have eight freighters. So that's one hundred and forty-four men, six fighters, five frigates, one carrier, and nine freighters. It's a start. My crew and the Normandy are the first line of defense. We will stop Saren and ruin their Plan A. You guys are the second line of defense."

Shepard took out two OSDs and handed them to Helena and Charn. "Go through this list and gather resources first. Fly all the ships under the flag of Spartacus Salvage Corp. I already have it registered as a legitimate salvaging company in Illium, so you shouldn't run into too much trouble with the law. Sell everything except eezo, iridium, palladium, and platinum. Bring those back to Eden Prime to warehouse. We need them for the war. Arm and armor your men and then take over Bahak. Remember, secrecy is a must. We don't need Reapers' servants sniffing around and finding out what we are truly after. Make everyone think Charn is the leader in this strictly internal batarian power struggle."

"One more thing," Shepard pointed at Liara. "In the event of my death, Liara will take over."

"What?!" Liara jumped. "Shepard! You cannot mean this!"

"I am completely serious. I am not immortal. There is no guarantee I will survive. If I manage to survive Saren, I will become enemy number one on the Reapers' hit list. It's better to have a succession plan in place than to assume I will live forever. Liara, you've studied the Protheans. You of all people should know how deadly the Reapers are."

Liara wilted, still looking quite upset at the prospect of Shepard being dead.

Shepard continued. "Most of my communication channels are compromised. Both the Shadow Broker and Cerberus are keeping a very close tab on me. Contact Shiala if you need anything. The only secure communication with me is either in person, or through encrypted email sent to you under the pseudonym 'Janiri'. The password for your next message is 'yohoho'."

"And a bottle of rum." Zaeed snorted.

Shepard sniggered. "Yeah."

Helena shook her head wrily. "When you made the analogy of slaying dragons and saving princesses, I didn't imagine you would want us to raise an army to takeover the kingdom instead."

"I didn't, either. Until I had Charn under my command, I thought the best I could do was to save a few thousand people. Now, we can save at least ten times that."

Shiala spoke. "Speaking of saving lives, Shepard, your special delivery came."

Shepard perked up. "Excellent timing. I wasn't sure I could get them in on time. I have something for you, too. I've came across a few sets of Cerberus armor. They might come in handy if those rats ever come here on my turf."

"Consider it done. They will learn how deadly an asari commando can be." Shiala replied.

Shepard looked at the people in this room and said, "you must wonder why I am asking you folks for this important job. The reason is simple. The only chance we have against the Reapers is if all the races in the galaxy unite together. The Council refuses to heed my warnings, and the Alliance is compromised by Cerberus agents. The only resources left for me to tap are the outlaws, the rejects, people of the Terminus system - you guys. If the authority won't help me, I'm going to help myself."

The Commander stood up to deliver her final message. "You all know what you need to do. Remember, we are fighting against our own extinction. We are fighting against an enemy who fancy themselves Gods. They think they get to dictate how we live and how we die. I tell you, they are mistaken! Let's show them how foolish it is to make an enemy of us. We are Godslayers! We are Ragnarok!"

"Ragnarok!" Everyone in the room pumped their fists in the air and shouted in chorus.

x-x-x

While the Normandy was enroute to the mass relay in the Exodus Cluster, Shepard was still debating whether she should head toward Sentry Omega or back to Horsehead Nebula. The Council had not contacted her in a while, which meant that Captain Kirrahe and his 3rd Infiltration Regiment STG had not discovered Saren's base on Virmire yet. On top of that, she had not received any message from Barla Von for over a week since she left the Citadel. The silence was making her anxious.

To take her mind off of things, Shepard holed up in the cargo bay, checking and rechecking everyone's equipment. Ashley noticed how antsy the Commander seemed, and decided to stay out of her way. Shepard was appreciative of Ashley's thoughtful gesture.

"Do you ever wonder if anything you do makes a difference?" The words came out of her mouth before Shepard's brain caught up.

Ashley put the rifle parts she was cleaning down on the workstation. "Sure. All the time." She turned toward Shepard and leaned against the edge of the station.

Shepard turned off her Omni-tool and faced Ashley.

Ashley elaborated. "I'm infantry, skipper, I'm damn good at what I do, but I know my limits. All I can do is pick up a rifle and shoot things. I can lead, but I don't have the brain to strategize. I'm not a biotic, and I can't use tech beyond swapping out mods with an Omni-tool. So yes, I understand that feeling."

Shepard frowned at the Chief. "Williams, I think you've underestimated yourself. So what if you are not a biotic, or an egghead? You're a fine soldier, and the Alliance can use more of you. We didn't even have biotics in our rank until relatively recently. Almost all of the higher-ups in the Alliance started out as regular infantry like you."

"I suppose you're right. It's just, you and LT are biotics, and you both made command. Sometimes it makes a girl feel inadequate without having the magic touch."

"Your view is skewed, Chief. The military is about the only place for human biotics. Civilians look at us very differently. You don't want to know how many fistfights I've gotten myself into because other kids got mouthy." Shepard smiled ruefully at the memories.

Ashley snorted. "Oh, I bet you didn't get into nearly as many fights as I did growing up. The Williams curse followed me like a stink. I've gotten used to name calling a long time ago. It's when they pick on my sisters… Kids can be cruel, but nobody messes with my family."

"Yeah, I totally get it. Half of the fights I got into was because they talked shit about my dad."

Ashley blinked at the Commander.

Shepard's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I thought everyone knew already. My dad, Lieutenant John Shepard. He was serving as the chief engineer of SSV Hyderabad when it suffered a critical drive failure during routine maintenance. The cruiser was docked on Calypso station, a residential station for military families. I was living there with my grandparents at the time. The drive failure caused a large scale eezo exposure. Lots of people died; my grandfather being one of them. People blamed my dad. He was badly injured in the incident and had to retire from service. I was nine when we moved to Mindoir."

"Sorry, Commander, I didn't mean to bring this up."

"No worries. You didn't know." Shepard shook her head. "It's funny. If this had never happened, I would have had a childhood as a regular military rugrat, instead of a colonial rube. My biotic would not be nearly as strong today if I had not had that second eezo exposure on board Calypso station. My whole life would have been different. They say a person is a collection of their past experience. I wonder what kind of person I would have been like if I grew up a spacer without biotics. Would I still be made Spectre and tasked to chase down Saren by the Council?"

Ashley grinned widely at Shepard. "You want my guess? I say yes. With or without biotics, you're still N7, the Hero of Elysium. Instead of popping batarian eyes with your biotics, you would just use a good old-fashioned boomstick to the head."

Shepard smirked at Ashley as a look of comprehension began to dawn on the Gunnery Chief's face. "I think you just answered your own question, Williams. There is no need to feel inadequate. With or without biotics, you're a damn fine soldier. Remember that."

Ashley was quiet for a moment. "After a career of being sidelined by the Alliance, you make me feel good enough." She wrinkled her nose and added, "you know, if I weren't so straight, Liara would have had some serious competition. You're making all the guys look bad. LT might be easy on the eyes, but he is so… blah."

Shepard coughed, trying hard not to laugh. "So I assume there is no fear of you guys breaking the no fraternization rule?"

"He is cute, but not rule-breakingly cute. 'Sides, we have nothing in common. And I hate to bring this up again, but I suspect he is still quite hung up on what's not available, if you get what I'm saying."

"Still? Yikes. I thought he got over that. I've made it perfectly clear I'm with Liara. He knew that." Shepard frowned.

"Nobody can control what the heart wants, no matter what the head tells you. Give him time. He'll get over himself." Ashley said.

"Good advice, Chief. I will do as you suggested." Shepard said before she got back to work. She turned her Omni-tool back on and froze when she saw the red blinking light of Widget's keyword search alert at the corner of the holographic screen. "Fuck."

Ashley was taken aback by the unexpected explesive. "Everything alright, skipper?"

Shepard didn't respond. She frantically typed in a stream of commands into her Omni-tool for a minute before she finally turned it off and looked up at Ashley. "I think I just located Matriarch Benezia."

Ashley's jaw dropped. "Well, fuck."

x-x-x

Liara was very aware of Shepard's eyes on her, even though she couldn't see her from behind. Asaris did not have ears like humans did. Instead, their under-crests were lined with sensory nodes that not only could pick up sounds, but they could also sense vibrations and perceive biotic aura. The Commander must have been unaware just how much she was projecting her thoughts. The intensity of her gaze alone was enough to send fine shudders down Liara's spine.

While out on the field, Shepard's hardsuit acted as a barrier to block off her natural aura so her presence was normally muted. However, when Shepard was in casual clothes, her sheer presence was oftentime overwhelming, especially if she was approaching from behind. And when Shepard projected her intentions… Liara could confirm the rumor that 'no asaris could walk past the Commander without feeling tingles in their crests' was completely true. She dreaded the day Shepard decided to walk around the Citadel without her hardsuit on. It would be like the human story, Pied Piper of Hamelin. Instead of children, there would be a horde of mesmerized asaris trailing after the Commander like drooling idiots.

Liara quickly turned around to face Shepard. The tingling sensation buzzing in her crest faded to a less distracting level when Shepard's biotic aura was not caressing the sensitive skin of her under-crest. "Shepard? I sense you wish to talk to me about something."

Shepard nodded slowly. "We will be in Noveria soon. I have intel that suggests Benezia might be there."

Liara froze at the unexpected information. "You've found her?"

"Yes. This is why I'm here to ask you whether you would like to be part of the mission or not."

A stab of hurt lanced through her heart. Liara grimaced at the insinuation. "I am Benezia's daughter. You can't trust me."

"No! That's not what I meant." Shepard closed in and held her in a loose hug, a hand palming her cheek tenderly. "For all we know, the indoctrination could have completely erased Benezia's identity. I don't know if she would even recognize you. She is your mother, Liara. I don't want to see you suffer. The chance of us talking her down is slim to none. You know what that means. This is why I'm leaving the decision to you."

"I-I understand." Liara put her hand over Shepard's and leaned into her touch. She took a moment to soak up the warmth and comfort offered to her before she made up her mind. "I want to, I _need_ to see her - to see for myself that the Benezia I know is completely gone."

"As you wish." Shepard said, gave her a quick peck on her lips, and left to prepare for the mission.

Liara spent the next little while locked in a daze. When Joker's voice came through the comm and announced ETA to Noveria in five minutes, she suddenly realized she had zoned out for the past few hours. Liara hurried down to the cargo bay to suit up. Wearing her brand new red and black light Colossus armor gave her the illusion of confidence she sorely needed. She gave her weapons a quick check and noticed her pistol had been fitted with sledgehammer rounds.

Standing next to her locker, Garrus was admiring his sniper rifle with tears in his eyes. "Two scram rails with a high explosive round? This baby is a cannon. One shot from this, and BAM!"

Liara flinched.

"... It'll rip right through a geth destroyer's shield like a wet paper bag." Garrus finished.

Liara shook her head to rid herself the mental image of her mother at the receiving end of the shot. With great difficulties, she adopted a neutral expression and headed toward the airlock.

 _There is no need to be flustered, Liara. You are a T'Soni, so act like it._ Her mother's voice whispered in her mind.

Shepard was already waiting for them at the bridge. The Commander offered no more words of comfort - there was no need for such gesture since Liara herself had chosen this.

"Move out." Shepard said, and both Liara and Garrus followed.

Even with the hardsuit, Liara could feel the cold bite of the snowstorm when she stepped out of the Normandy's airlock onto the gangway of Port Hanshan. Noveria was owned and operated by a collection of private corporations, and therefore not under Citadel control. Technically, this meant the locals did not have to cooperate with a Council Spectre. In practise, corporations usually cooperated without too much fuss because they understood getting in the way of a Spectre on a mission was a _very bad idea_.

Unfortunately, the group of Elanus Risk private security personnel did _not_ understand the peril of pointing a gun at a Spectre while demanding her to part with her weapons.

"Nobody takes my weapons." Shepard's voice was frostier than the snowstorm outside. Liara inwardly winced at the edge of the menacing aura leaking out of Shepard's armor clad body. She had to wonder how dull the two leading human's senses had to be to not take Shepard's threats seriously. Just when Liara thought the group of private security force were about to be kneecapped if they were lucky, an almost hysterical female voice rang through the comm system and ordered the guards to stand down, saving their hides at the last second.

The blonde security guard grudgingly lowered her rifle. "Behave yourself." She added as the squad walked past her.

Both Liara and Garrus lurched in their steps and visibly grimaced at the comment.

Shepard spun around to face the woman who obviously had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Without so much as twitching a muscle, the Commander's biotics lashed out angrily and grabbed the security guard by her throat, pinning her against the nearest wall. The woman's feet kicked under her to gain some leverage, but they were at least a foot off the floor.

"If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't need my weapons. If I wanted to _misbehave_ , there wouldn't be much of you left to fit inside a coffee cup when I'm done. I am Commander Shepard, look me up." She said calmly, and released her biotics.

The blonde security guard fell heavily on the floor on all four, gasping for air.

The captain of the guards looked as if she wanted to say something to the Commander, but she wisely chose to keep her mouth shut.

They moved through the port checkpoint, ignored all the detection bots blaring warning at them for breaking the 'no weapons' rule, and stopped by the reception desk to talk to the woman who had ordered the guards to stand down.

"Turn those things off. They are allowed to carry weapons here. Hello, I'm Gianna Parasini, secretary of Administrator Anoleis at Port Hanshan. Thank you for not killing our security guards, Commander Shepard. Captain Matsuo is very serious about her job, and Sergeant Stirling can be a bit overzealous sometimes." Gianna said apologetically to Shepard. "Now, how may I help you?"

"I've received intel that the former Spectre Saren's accomplice, Matriarch Benezia, had recently passed by Port Hanshan. Do you know anything about this?" Shepard asked.

Gianna looked gobsmacked. "What? What do you mean _former_ Spectre?"

Shepard gave the woman a flat stare. "Do you mean to tell me that you are not aware that both Saren and Benezia have been declared traitors by the Council? They were charged with high treason for collaborating with the geth for the Eden Prime attack. Tens of thousands of human colonists were killed in one day and you've heard nothing of it?"

All the colours drained from Gianna's face. "That was them? No one told us anything! Oh God. She was here just two days ago! Benezia was here as Saren's proxy. She brought a team of asari commandos and a whole lot of crates with her and left for Peak 15 right before the snowstorm hit the Port."

"I can guess what's inside those crates. Geth, most likely." Shepard said with disgust clear in her voice. "You have geth running loose out there, Miss Parasini. I would suggest you ask corporate for backup and begin evacuating civilians off this planet immediately. You don't want the geth to overrun this planet and compromise every research facility. And for your sake, please don't try to tell me that there has been no geth out of the Veil for the last three hundred years. My crew and I have been fighting them up and down the Traverse for the past three months."

"Administrator Anoleis must be informed. Please, Commander, come and talk to him in person. I'll arrange a meeting." Gianna said and quickly left.

"Let's hope this Anoleis is smarter than his guards." Shepard muttered to herself.

As it turned out, Anoleis was really not very intelligent at all. This salarian was rude, curt, arrogant, and short-sighted. He insulted Shepard's background as a colonist, disregarded her warning about geth on the loose, and defended Saren simply because the former Spectre was a major shareholder of Binary Helix, one of the corporations that owned Noveria. Most importantly, Anoleis refused to give them a garage pass to get to Peak 15. This was the thing that truly annoyed the Commander.

"I don't care that you're insulting and dismissive towards me. Your biggest mistake is getting between a Spectre and their mission. You only get to make that kind of mistake once in your lifetime, Anoleis. Have a nice day." Shepard said coolly, and left with the squad.

Out in the reception hall, Gianna discreetly called the squad over. "Anoleis is not the only one with a garage pass. Talk to Lorik Qui'in. He is at the hotel lobby."

Following the secretary's advice, they found the turian businessman sitting alone, having a two martini breakfast.

"Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard asked.

The turian looked up from his drink. "Well, well. Look who we have here. Commander Shepard, humanity's first Spectre."

"You seem well informed. Know any other interesting news?"

Lorik Qui'in regarded the Commander with some interest. "Why, yes. An asari matriarch in a pinstripe suit and her entourage of commandos passed through Port Hanshan a couple days ago. Soon after, Peak 15 fell into quarantine. And now a Spectre is here. Isn't that interesting?"

"Quite." Shepard smiled at the turian, apparently amused by his wit. "Then you must know why I'm here. I need to get to Peak 15, and to do that, I need a garage pass."

"How fortuitous. I happen to have one at my disposal. I will be happy to lend it to you if you could do me a favour. I've collected enough information on Anoleis' corruption to put him away for a long time. However, he found out about that and accused me of corruption first. As we speak, his hired goons are busy ransacking my office in Synthetic Insights to find that evidence. I need you to recover the data from my computer before his men does. Violence may be unavoidable. Anoleis is paying those security guards under the table. It will be up to you how you want to deal with them."

"They took bribe money. They are mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard said.

Lorik Qui'in sipped his drink. "Try not to leave blood stains on my carpets."

Shepard chuckled. Liara noticed that Shepard always seemed to favour people with sharp wits and sarcastic remarks, even though the Commander herself was quite plain spoken. Liara considered herself to be neither witty, nor blunt. It made her wonder whether Shepard found her boring to talk to.

Synthetic Insights office was located right next to the Port Hanshan hotel. It was probably why Lorik Qui'in had picked the hotel bar as the place to drink away his sorrows. As soon as they entered the office building, they were confronted by a group of guards dressed in ERCS uniform.

"You're not supposed to be here." One of the guard said, pointing her weapon at Shepard.

"You're not supposed to be here, either." Shepard said with a drawl. "Anoleis is paying you bribe money to shake this place down. This makes you a criminal. I'm a Spectre. Do the math."

The guard lowered her rifle. "This job is not worth dying for. How about this? You pretend you didn't see us, we'll pretend we didn't see you." She said cautiously before fleeing the scene with a few of her fellow guards.

"That's one of the smartest moves I've seen all day." Garrus said. Liara agreed.

They proceeded toward Lorik Qui'in's office. Liara got to witness first hand what a sniper rifle fitted with two scram rails and a high explosive round upgrade could do to an organic target. Garrus was right to compare the rifle to a cannon. Instead of worrying about blood stains on the carpets, Lorik Qui'in should have been more concerned with scorch marks on the concrete. With superior firepower, the three of them cut down Anoleis' guards with ease. They found Lorik Qui'in's file in no time.

On their way out, the squad was stopped by Sergeant Stirling and her men at the second floor lobby. The blonde guard was shooting hateful glares at Shepard as she addressed her. "I knew you would be trouble the moment I saw you. Anoleis will throw you off-world for what you've done, but you're not gonna get off that easily. Want to know what we do to cop killers in our world?"

Garrus quipped, "you accepted bribe money from Anoleis. Want to know what we do to dirty cops in our world?"

Shepard snorted at the former C-Sec's comment. "As if. She is at best a mall cop. Right now? She's a dead mercenary."

Stirling's face contorted into a snarl. "You think you are so superior, Shepard. This is the Traverse, not Council space. You're forgetting whose turf you're…" She looked down on her chest and saw a hole the size of her head. Her body hit the ground with a wet thud before it began to shrivel as the edge of the hole caught fire. By Liara's estimate, there would not be much of her left in a minute's time.

Garrus cocked his sniper rifle to reload.

Shepard eyed the rest of the guards and offered a helpful suggestion. "That would be your cue to surrender." She said. The next moment, all the guard were busy tossing their weapons on the ground.

They left the building without further harassment from the guards. However, Gianna Parasini was waiting for them right outside the elevator. "Commander Shepard! There are reports about noise coming from Synthetic Insights office. Do you know anything about this?"

Shepard gave a nod of confirmation. "Oh yes. That would be us gunning down Anoleis' hired thugs to recover incriminating evidence of his corruption. We've left quite a mess in there. Don't charge us with the cleaning bill though. It's not our fault burnt bodies always leave such horrible scorch marks."

Gianna sputtered at Shepard's straightforward answer and blase attitude. When she finally found her voice, she gave the Commander an exasperated sigh and said, "come see me at the hotel lobby for a drink, before you hand the evidence to Lorik Qui'in."

"Sure." Shepard shrugged, and followed the secretary to the hotel.

They settled in a secluded corner in the hotel bar, away from prying eyes. Gianna re-introduced herself to the Commander. "Let me try this again. I'm Gianna Parasini, Internal Affairs. I've been working undercover to investigate Anoleis' corruption for the past six months. The data you've recovered from Lorik Qui'in's office is the breakthrough I need. I just need you to do one more thing - convince Lorik Qui'in to testify against Anoleis in court."

"Get me that garage pass, and I'll make sure Lorik Qui'in cooperates."

"Yes, of course." Gianna agreed readily and left to arrange for the arrest.

Lorik Qui'in, on the other hand, was less than impressed with the new arrangement. "Now that you have my data, you wish to use it to blackmail me?"

"Blackmail is a strong word. I would call this supply and demand, Qui'in. Besides, who else would make a better Administrator if not the person who uncovered the previous one's corruption? I can persuade my contact to put in good words for you to the Board."

"Hum. You do make a fair point. Alright, tell your contact I will testify against Anoleis. Now let me finish my drink in peace." Lorik Qui'in said.

Shepard relayed the good news to Gianna, and the squad was treated with the gratifying sight of Anoleis being handcuffed and dragged out of his office.

"This is an outrage! Stop her, Commander Shepard. My secretary has gone mad! She can't do this to me!" Anoleis struggled and yelled on his way out.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the disgraced salarian. "You know, none of this would have happened if you just gave me that damn garage pass when I asked nicely. Speaking of which..." She plucked the pass out of Anoleis' breast pocket and grinned. "Have a nice day."

x-x-x

Shepard was right about loose geth. The road between Port Hanshan and Peak 15 was crawling with them. Then again, Shepard was right about a lot of things. Liara had gotten used to taking the Commander's words at their face value not out of blind faith, but rather because the woman had the tendency to be proven right time and again.

And Shepard knew things - secrets no one was supposed to be privy to. Cerberus' infiltration inside the Alliance, batarian state secrets, the Shadow Broker's interest in her - just to name a few. More importantly, Shepard could relate to other races as if she had spend the time and effort to learn what made each of them tick. This was one of the many excellent qualities Shepard possessed that made her so compelling to Liara.

Shepard knew her, too. Impossible as it seemed, this human understood Liara better than she herself did sometimes. Shepard understood her hope, her pride, even her insecurities. It was flattering and more than a little daunting to be in a relationship with such a magnificent and enigmatic figure as Commander Shepard.

But Shepard was not infallible. In fact, the woman was riddled with character flaws just like any random person on the street. The most glaring one was her temperament. Shepard could come off as rash and high-strung, if not a bit of a bully on a bad day. It was a common flaw amongst short lived species.

Liara held her breath and waited for the brief stab of pain in her chest to fade away. Every time she was reminded of Shepard's short life, she had to brace herself for the heartache. Intellectually, Liara understood the philosophical view on an asari's partner's lifespan. Emotionally, ever since Shepard mentioned her succession plan a few days ago, Liara could no longer delude herself into pretending what she had with Shepard right now was enough. Even if it burnt her, Liara longed to hold the tiny, fragile flame that was Jane Shepard into her hands and treasure it before it flickered and faded away. She would live the rest of her long life proudly wearing those scars on her palms, and remember.

She was ready.

"Juggernaut ahead!. More krogans to your left." Shepard shouted from behind a crate. The mountain trail from Port Hanshan garage to Peak 15 was littered with geth, crashed vehicles, and dead bodies. It seemed Benezia was determined to leave no witnesses behind. As soon as they entered Peak 15 garage, they were met with heavy fire. In the background, Peak 15's VI announced repeatedly that the facility had suffered major damage, and there were contaminants on the loose.

"Why are the turrets facing the wrong way?" Liara asked as they passed through the narrow security tunnels.

Garrus answered, "because the facility is in lockdown. They want to keep everything in as much as they want to keep everything else out."

Liara briefly wondered what kind of contaminants would require automatic turrets to contain them.

There was snow inside the facility. Heat was turned off when the core shut down. And of course, there were more geth. Liara almost missed it, but she thought she heard some kind of clicking sound that did not sound like geth at all. It was a very soft buzzing, almost hissing noise…

Something green and _fast_ zoomed towards her. Liara rolled to her left, and heard the wall behind her hissing loudly as it dissolved. A gigantic insectoid with _claws-and-pincers-and-teeth-and-tentacles_ screeched and spit out another jet of acid at her. Liara dodged the projectile and lashed out with her biotics. The _thing_ floated in the air, its two long tentacles whipped around almost lazily. Her heart pounding loudly in her throat, Liara pulled up her pistol in a panic. Before she could pull the trigger, the creature erupted into a screaming ball of fire and smoke when Garrus shot it with his sniper rifle.

Liara could barely catch her breath as several small neon green insect-like creatures scurried towards her. Their progress was permanently halted when Shepard caught them with lightning fast pot shots. They exploded in a shower of corrosive acid green gore that ate into the metal flooring.

"What in the Goddess's name was that?" Liara gasped.

Shepard paused. "Loose contaminants."

x-x-x

A/N: Firefly fans probably lol'd at the name Janestown. Shepard had never met Zaeed before because she didn't buy his character DLC last time. And if anyone's wondering, I'm planning to write the entire Noveria arc from Liara's point of view.


	7. I-07: Mothers

Book I - Chapter 7: Mothers

Liara followed the Commander's lead and carefully knelt down to examine the insectoid corpse on the ground. This particular one was killed by Shepard's biotic, not by Garrus' oversized sniper rifle, so the body was relatively intact.

Shepard turned on her Omni-tool to scan the remains into the database before pulling up a few holographic images. "This confirms it. They are the same kind of bugs from a Cerberus lab in Binthu. Now we know where they got their specimens from."

Garrus scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You think Saren is working with Cerberus?"

Shepard shook her head. "Possibly, but not necessarily. There are only so many places you can get illegal genetic research materials from. Think of it as they belong to the same supervillain club. You never know if they are working with or against each other for world domination. That's my guess anyway."

Liara frowned at the thought that their enemies seemed to be multiplying and boxing them in from all sides. Saren and his geth had caused enough headache already.

"Liara, I'm stating the obvious here, but don't touch the acid. The toxin damage will penetrate the shield even if you have your barrier up at full power. Garrus, keep doing what you do best. Stay in the back and snipe the spitters. Liara will lift them and I'll keep the Kamikaze bugs away from you." Shepard said.

"Kami-ka-what? Sorry, that didn't translate." Garrus asked.

Shepard cracked a smile. "Ah, it's a human reference. Those little bugs will run at you and explode themselves in your face, effectively killing themselves while dealing a lot of splash damage. Humans call this tactics Kamikaze."

"Nasty." Garrus clicked his tongue.

"Expect more geth. Benezia brought a lot of crates with her. Geth don't need to breathe, and they can be packed tightly. We don't know how many of them are here. Also watch out for asari commandos. Geth were not the only ones Benezia brought in. Keep an eye on your HUD and watch for movements. The snowstorm out there is going to last for a while, so there is no need to rush. Benezia is not going anywhere. Liara, Garrus, you two fight best at a distance. Stay in the back and provide cover. Let me be the vanguard and draw enemy fire. Don't follow me too closely. Are we clear?"

"Aye, aye, Commander." Liara and Garrus acknowledged Shepard's orders.

Shepard turned off her Omni-tool and readied her pistol. "Good. Let's move."

Peak 15 was in stage three quarantine. The VI of Peak 15, Mira, informed them that Benezia was currently in the Rift Station, which could only be accessed through the tram line, which was inconveniently shut down because all the systems that were needed to run the tram line were in critical failure and had to be manually restored one by one. While they were running around the facility to restore power and reconnect landlines, they had to fight through swarms of acid spitting bugs plus random geth blocking their way. After they finally restored the tram line, they had to fight through even more bugs to get on the Central Station.

It got tiresome very quickly.

Initially Liara was scared of those creepy-crawlies because of their fearsome appearance and tendency to jump out of unexpected places to ambush them from their flanks. She got over her fear quickly once she learnt to spot them by the soft clicking noise they made when they moved. By the time they got to the Rift Station, she had become very adept at dodging acid while returning fire. She accidentally got splashed once - that was a painful lesson she had no wish to repeat. Shepard was right to warn her about it beforehand.

There were survivors holing up in the science station. Captain Ventralis and his ERCS guards had been hopping on stims for two days to defend the scientists from the bugs. "I don't get it. Even dumb beasts should know not to stick their noses where it hurts. They just keep coming this way." Captain Ventralis said.

A slight frown kneaded between the Commander's brows.

When Shepard asked about Benezia's current location, the man answered quickly. "She went to the hot lab a couple days ago, and she hasn't come out yet. Here, you need this to get inside. The door is locked." Captain Ventralis said as he passed an access card to the Commander.

Shepard's lips pressed into a thin line. It was not an expression Liara had seen very often on the Commander's face. She wordlessly took the card and tucked it in a compartment in her hardsuit, only giving a curt nod to the Captain as a quick thanks. "Let's go check on the survivors first. They might have more information on the creatures." Shepard said softly.

Liara understood the unspoken request - Shepard was asking for her patience. They needed to collect information on those strange bugs just as much as they needed to confront Benezia. Her mother was not going anywhere, but the scientists might not survive long if the bugs kept coming.

The scientists inside the barrack looked traumatized and sleep deprived. One scientist in particular, a volus named Han Olar, was the worst off. He was the only survivor coming out of the hot lab since the contaminants broke out of the secured facility. Liara felt sorry for the guy until she learnt of what he had been doing inside.

Those bugs were not just dumb beasts as Captain Ventralis so derisively put it. They were rachni - a sapien alien insectoid race that were supposed to have been eradicated by krogans thousands of years ago. Someone found a frozen egg on a derelict ship, revived the egg, and attempted to create an army of obedient soldiers out of them. Only, their plan backfired disastrously.

Shepard looked very troubled by the news. "If they are rachni as you claimed, that means you people have been conducting experiments on a sentient species."

Han Olar wheezed with the effort to speak. "You think I didn't know that? We took the newborns away from the Rachni Queen, turned them into lethal weapons, and broke their minds in the process. Perhaps it was justice that so many of us were killed by the monsters we ourselves created."

"This is what happens to science without ethics. All those brilliant minds, all the wonderful discoveries they could have made; they decided to create weapons." Shepard whispered in a voice so soft, Liara almost didn't catch it. She observed the Commander discreetly, watching her raised her right hand and flexed her fingers in an almost tentative manner. The way Shepard frowned critically at her hand reminded her of an earlier conversation they had onboard the Normandy.

Liara recoiled as a sharp pain shot through her chest like a physical blow. She _remembered_. Shepard had made the same gesture when she first spoke of her cybernetic enhancements. Added that to the undeniable look of self-loathing on her face when she admitted to Dr. Chakwas she had been experimented on, plus her unnaturally strong biotic that was more asari than human...

 _Someone tried to turn Shepard into a weapon!_

This revelation knocked all the air out of her lungs. Liara staggered backward half a step, gasping to catch her breath with her back hunched over.

"Liara?" Shepard's hands were on her in an instant. They were so tender, so full of care, that the mere touch of them brought tears to her eyes.

Liara raged in her mind. _How dare they! How could anyone even dream of this perversion?!_

"Sweetie, are you alright?" Shepard asked urgently. Liara could hear a hint of panic in her voice.

"Y-yes. I'm f-fine. Just t-tired." Liara stammered. The grimacing smile she forced on her face was as unconvincing as her poor excuse.

Shepard stared at her for a long moment, obviously not believing a word she said. "Benezia is a very powerful biotic. The rachni won't be able to harm her. You will have the chance to talk to her soon, I promise." Shepard said in a voice so low, so velvety, it caressed her skin like a loving touch.

Liara did not wish to correct Shepard's false assumption. She took in a shuddering breath, held her lower lip between her teeth to prevent herself from sobbing, and nodded.

"Shepard is right. From what we've seen, the rachni are weak against biotics. If anything, Benezia's asari commando bodyguards will be more than enough to keep her safe. They are considered the best fighters in the galaxy for a reason." Garrus also tried to cheer her up.

"I-I'll be fine. Really." Liara said, fixing her gaze firmly on the floor. "We should keep going. There are still a few people we have yet to talk to. Please, don't let your concerns for me distract you from the mission."

Shepard gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. "As you wish."

They moved on and resume interviewing the rest of the scientists as if her brief episode of emotional breakdown had never happened. Liara was grateful for that.

In the cafeteria, they found a salarian jumping at the slightest noise, an elcor with the saddest expression on his wrinkly face, and a young asari maiden standing very still, meditating with her eyes closed.

"Odd. You seem to be awfully calm about the situation. Seeing your colleagues slaughtered, being trapped in a frozen planet with a swarm of killer alien bugs; one would imagine a maiden such as you to be more terrified than you appeared to be. What's your name?" Shepard regarded the asari with an inquisitive tilt of her head. Judging by the way she spoke, Shepard was intentionally trying to get a rise out of this asari.

The asari scientist looked at Shepard like the human was something she accidentally stepped on. "Alestia Iallis. I'm not freaking out like everyone else because I'm in a middle of my meditation, which you rudely interrupted."

"Meditation. Of course. What can you tell me about Benezia?"

Alestia rolled her eyes impatiently. "Why ask me? Why not ask your friend?" She pointed at Liara.

"Me? I do not know anything about Benezia." Liara said defensively.

"So why would I?" Alestia scoffed.

Shepard humed nonchalantly. "Because you are a trained commando. I mean, who else has the habit of meditating prior to entering a combat situation? You're obviously not a justicar."

In the corner of her eyes, Liara saw Garrus reaching for his pistol, but he did not draw it.

Alestia floundered for a moment before she could form a coherent response. "Any asari with decent biotics knows how to meditate."

Shepard turned toward Liara. "Is that right?" She asked.

Liara noticed the strangeness in Alestia's explanation. A normal scientist should have been more startled by the assumption that they were going to be in a combat situation than the fact they practiced meditation. She should know. It was not too long ago she counted herself as one. With carefully chosen words, Liara replied, "she is correct in that any asari with decent biotics should know how to meditate. It is part of the standard curriculum in the asari education system."

"You must be a very good student then." Shepard said to the scientist.

Alestia gave the Commander a dirty look. "Very. A military muscle head like you probably can't even comprehend my job description."

"Probably not." Shepard smiled easily and moved on to chat with a different person in the room.

Garrus kept his hand on his pistol from this point on.

After chatting with all the scientists in the cafeteria, they found that the bug infestation was not the only woe they had suffered at Peak 15 when all systems went critical. Dr. Cohen in the med bay had his hands full of a group of very sick scientists exposed to a lethal bio-weapon they were developing, and the only cure was locked away inside a quarantined lab.

This information filled Liara with an unfamiliar feeling of cold, vindictive pleasure that it was justice that those who developed the bio-weapon should be the ones to suffer from it. The sudden flood of negative emotion was so strong, it actually unsettled her a lot to experience it. Normally, she was never one to derive joy out of other people's suffering. Only just realized what kind of monstrous abuse had been done to Shepard, Liara had very little sympathy at the moment for those unethical scientists who thought they were above scrutiny. If she were in Shepard's shoes, she would have walked away.

Again, Shepard proved herself to be a far better person than Liara ever hoped to be. The Commander was a hero, a protector - she always tried to do the right thing.

"You said the toxin is not contagious, but the lab is quarantined." Shepard asked.

Dr. Cohen, the scientist who was not a medical doctor but served as a temporary medic, answered, "yes, that's right. Captain Ventralis had the area quarantined because he refused to listen. He may not be a toxicologist, but he has guns, and his men are keeping those creatures away. I have to do what he says."

Shepard sighed. "Of course. Let me talk to him."

Captain Ventralis was not entirely convinced it was a good idea to let the squad go in the quarantined area, but he eventually relented. "It's not my call if you want to risk your own hides. You're not under my command. I'll tell the guards to let you in. But we'll lock the door behind you. If you are contagious, we won't let you out."

The same thoughtful, thin-lipped expression appeared on Shepard's face again. She considered for a moment and agreed with a shrug. "Fair enough."

Alarm bells started to go off inside Liara's head. She gave Garrus a sideway glance and noticed the former C-Sec gripping his pistol tightly.

The guard did not give them much trouble once Shepard let him know they had Captain Ventralis' permission to go in. Yet again, the guard stressed that he would lock the squad in until they were proven to be not infected by the toxin inside the quarantine lab.

Shepard responded to the guard's threat with a decidedly unbothered easy smile. As soon as the door locked behind them, a blank expression replaced the smile on her face. "Get your cannon ready." The Commander said to Garrus.

Garrus pulled out his sniper rifle and aimed it at the door.

"Liara, can you help me with the vials. This is over my head." Shepard scratched her head at the notes, looking a bit embarrassed.

Liara quickly read through the notes. She followed the instructions and carefully mixed the vials with precise timing. It took her one try to get it right. "I got it. We can go back to Dr. Cohen now."

The supposedly locked door slid open. Alestia Iallis the rude asari scientist sauntered in with an armed asari commando and a geth destroyer flanking her sides. Before Alestia could get a word out, Garrus snapped out two shots in quick succession, reducing the enemy count down to one.

"What? You want me to wait for your speech?" Garrus asked the scientist as he cocked his sniper rifle to reload.

Alestia froze on the spot in pure shock.

Shepard cackled.

Liara walked up to Alestia with deliberate strides until she was face to face to the scientist. "You work for Benezia. Tell me why she is here." She demanded coldly.

Alestia's face twisted into a dark scowl. "You are a disgrace. A disgusting little pureblood like you is unworthy to be a T'Soni."

Before Liara could respond, Shepard's hand was on Alestia's throat, lifting her up and slamming her down on the ground in one smooth motion. This one attack cracked her skull and broke her neck, killing her instantly. Shepard straightened up slowly from her kneeling position while stealing an unsure glance at Liara's direction. "Um, I didn't like the way she talked to you." She muttered, clenching and unclenching her hands anxiously. It was clear to her that Shepard was afraid that Liara would think less of her, having witnessed such a violent outburst.

Liara so wanted to tell the Commander that she was more than just a weapon, that whatever had been done to her body could never touch her spirit. Instead, Liara simply slipped her hand into Shepard's and said, "she deserved it. Awfully rude, that one."

Shepard grinned at her and lightly squeezed her hand. The brilliant smile made Liara want to cry.

Outside the quarantine lab, Han Olar was waiting for them. "They came out of the maintenance tunnel and killed the guard. I think there might be more of them back there."

Shepard thanked the volus for the information and led the team back to the med bay.

After getting the cure to Dr. Cohen in exchange for the pass to go through the maintenance tunnel and some medi-gels, Shepard asked the doctor to do her one more favour. "Captain Ventralis told me Matriarch Benezia is in the hot lab. I think he was lying. Still, he wanted us there for a reason, so I need to check the place out. Make up some excuses and get all the scientists to come to the med bay. Lock the door and don't come out if you hear gunshots. I don't want to get you caught in the middle."

Dr. Cohen was shocked by the news, but he agreed nonetheless.

As it turned out, Captain Ventralis wanted them to go to the hot lab because he simply wanted them dead. The door dead bolted behind them as soon as they stepped inside, trapping them with a swarm of rachni and scattered piles of half-dissolved, half-eaten body parts that probably belonged to the scientists who used to work here. "Lovely. Now what?" Shepard looked around with a scowl on her face.

One particularly large pile of rubble moved. The squad whipped around, leveling their weapons at it.

"Don't shoot." Rasped a heavily accented voice. A human male covered in blood and filth slowly wiggled his head and shoulders free from underneath the pile of debris and body parts. From the look of it, he had been hiding from the rachni by pretending to be dead for the past two days. "They are sleeping. They won't attack if you stay quiet. Here, take the card. Go to the control room and activate the neutron purge with my authorization code. It will kill everything in the hot lab."

Shepard took the card from the injured man. "I guess you are the only survivor?" She asked quietly.

"Yes. I hid. Everyone else is dead." He said weakly. His face was drawn and pale.

"The door is locked."

"It will automatically unlock once the countdown starts." He said.

"Alright. Keep hiding. We'll activate the purge and grab you on the way out." Shepard promised.

The man gave the Commander a grateful nod and laid perfectly still. It seemed he had mastered the art of playing dead from the past two days.

They stealthily made their way inside the control room. They could see dozens, if not hundreds of rachni sleeping in the habitation chambers through the glass panels. One loud noise and they would swarm out through the tunnels they had dug into the metal flooring to bypass the acid-resistant glasses.

Shepard activated the Mira VI and entered the code. The neutron purge countdown began with the loudest, most obnoxious shriek of a siren wail that Liara had ever heard. Never mind the rachni; the noise could have waken the dead.

"Move!" Shepard shouted.

The rachni woke up screeching along the noise of the countdown siren. They swarmed out of the tunnels in a wave of sharp pincers and clicking claws, eager to tear the intruders to shreds. The sheer number of them had the squad overwhelmed. Garrus could only shoot so fast, and Liara's biotics took time to charge. They tried, but there were just so many of them. With thirty seconds left on the countdown, they were not even half-way out of the hot lab. By her estimate, they would need at least another minute to reach the door.

Just when Liara thought all hope was lost, Shepard _roared_.

The Commander pulled her right arm back into a tight fist and punched the ground with a mighty BAM! A gigantic wave of biotics exploded out of her body like a supernova, sending every rachni within acid-spitting distance flying in all directions. The next instance, her body blurred as she charged forward at an impossible speed, transporting her right to the middle of another group of rachni. She slammed down her fist again and finally blasted open a path for Liara and Garrus to reach the door.

Much to Liara's horror, the HUD was showing that Shepard's shield was completely gone after the second attack. Shepard would be taking direct damage if she were hit again. By the look of it, Shepard had expanded all available biotics into the attacks and would need time to recharge. Essentially, she was defenseless.

With no shield and twenty-four seconds left on the countdown, that heroic idiot decided now would be the perfect time to worry about other people. Shepard dragged the scientist out from under the rubble and slung him over her shoulder as if the chubby full-grown man weighed nothing more than a shirt.

They sprinted out of the door with fifteen seconds on the clock.

Shepard led the squad to the Rift Station platform and carefully put the injured man down on a roll of seats. "You doing alright? What's your name?" She asked, pointing at the makeshift tourniquet tied in the middle of his left thigh. Half of his leg had been torn off. The wound looked clean, and there was a thick film of medi-gel seal to prevent blood loss and infection. Still, this man was clearly in a great deal of pain.

The man looked down at the bloody stump and replied with a pained smile. "I'll live. Thanks to you. I'm Dr. Yaroslev Tartakovsky, geneticist. I specialise in cloning. I wanted to save lives, to clone an army of obedient shocktroopers to replace the need for soldiers. What a mistake... Sorry, I'm rambling. You saved my life, and I don't even know your name." He said.

"Commander Shepard, Council Spectre." Shepard said and handed Yaroslev a tube of medi-gel. "Hang in there. We'll get you to a doctor soon. A question - do you know anything about Matriarch Benezia?"

Yaroslev replied, "yes, she was here right before the breech. She was very interested in the Rachni Queen. The Queen was stored in a special isolation tank inside the science station. We intentionally separate the Queen from her offsprings - another huge mistake we made. The separation damaged their minds. The hatchlings were nothing but insane beasts. We did this."

The Commander exchanged a meaningful look with Liara and Garrus. "That would explain why the rachni kept trying to get in there. They wanted to go to their Queen." She turned to Yaroslev and said, "don't go anywhere."

Yaroslev chuckled. "You're talking to a one-legged man, Commander."

"Right." Shepard coughed.

The Commander led her squad off the Rift Station platform and stopped in front of the elevator leading to the science station. "Benezia is in the science station. That means Ventralis sent us to the hot lab to die. I'm thinking his real job is to guard Benezia while she is in there with the Rachni Queen. He is going to open fire as soon as he sees us. So get ready."

Liara was having a hard time suppressing the rising sense of dread. Ventralis' men were the very last hurdle standing between her and her mother. What would her mother say to her? Would she even recognize her own daughter? What if Sovereign had completely destroyed her mother's mind?

"Liara," Shepard's sharp voice snapped her to attention. "Focus. We're almost there."

"Aye, aye, Commander." Liara acknowledged the order. And it was clearly an order given to her by her commanding officer, not a request from a close friend.

They rode in the elevator in brooding silence.

Captain Ventralis and his men was waiting for them with their weapons drawn. "I'm sorry, Commander. I don't want to do this, but I have my orders."

And then no more words were exchanged. The guards died quickly. Liara had to wonder why in Athame's name those poor fools thought it was a great idea to pick a fight with an elite three man squad that had survived dozens of rachni in an enclosed space. Perhaps they thought the squad would have sustained serious injuries after a trip to the hot lab?

"All targets down." Garrus said after double-checking the area for hostiles. The firefight only lasted about two minutes.

They went through the maintenance tunnel, cleared out one stray rachni hiding inside, and abruptly found themselves face to face with Matriarch Benezia.

Her mother looked absolutely exhausted. Liara could tell with one glance from a distance. There were dark blotches under her eyes, and the soft scales framing the edge of her regal face had hardened with stress. Her aura was chaotic and sickly. It clawed and swirled around her like a waithe.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it toward happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." Benezia looked away from the Rachni Queen inside the isolation tank and turned to address the Commander. "I won't be moved by sympathy, no matter who you bring into this confrontation."

"Liara is here because she wanted to be. I gave her the choice." Shepard said.

Benezia raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? What have you told her about me, Liara?"

"I told her the Benezia I knew was not the same person who has been helping Saren. This is not you, mother. This is wrong. Please, you need to fight the indoctrination." Liara pleaded.

Benezia's aura twisted and thrashed in agony. Her face, however, was cold and still as ice. The Matriarch ignored Liara and turned to taunted Shepard instead. "Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

"That's the indoctrination talking. Ignore her, Liara." Shepard said to the maiden.

A pained grimace twisted Benezia's feature for a brief second, and it was gone. "I should have been stricter with her." She said in a robotic tone before she lashed out with a powerful stasis that froze Liara and Garrus in one move.

Shepard rolled out of the range just in time and countered with her own stasis.

The look of disbelief was frozen on Benezia's face just as numerous geth and asari commandos poured inside the room.

Liara broke free of the stasis field and dodged out of the way of an incoming rocket. She retaliated with a well-aimed lift and left the floating geth to Garrus to deal with while she dodged behind a crate to shake the two commandos at her flank. Liara took a moment to reinforce her barrier before she risked poking her head out to create a singularity next to the two commandos, jerking them out of their cover.

While she was busy pelting bullets at the two commandos, a force slammed into her from behind, knocking her off her feet; she had missed the third commando. It took a second for her eyes to focus on the HUD and see the red dot behind her disappear. Liara got up, turned around, and saw a ball of flame sitting on the floor where the third commando should have been. Garrus got her.

The sound of explosives going off at the other end of the circular ramp told Liara of Shepard's current location. The Commander was standing next to the still frozen Benezia, fighting a group of geth snipers without cover.

Liara sprang out from behind a crate and lifted two snipers at Shepard's flank. Her outstretched hand balled into a fist as she warped the two synthetics until their bodies twisted at an unnatural angle. She pulled up her pistol and let loose a barrage of bullets while waiting for her biotics to recharge.

In the corner of her eyes, Liara saw Shepard reapplying stasis over Benezia before it had the chance to wear off.

"Cover me!" Shepard barked. Both Liara and Garrus dashed pass the Commander and focused their fire at the group of three geth snipers behind her. Garrus got one with his sniper rifle immediately while Liara trapped the two left in a singularity. The room became eerily quiet after they finished them off.

There was only Benezia left.

Liara slowly turned around to face her mother. The only sound she could hear was the frantic pounding of her heart.

The stasis field wore off. Benezia staggered backward, her hands clawing at her neck. "What have you done?!" The Matriarch hissed at Shepard.

Shepard gave Benezia an even stare. "Biotic collar. Got your pistol, too. You are completely disarmed. This is over."

"This is _not_ over! Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear." Benezia chanted with a crazed rapturous expression on her washed out, drawn face.

Liara wanted to weep. What had they done to her?

"I will not betray him. You will… you…" Benezia's voice wavered and tapered off. Then Liara could see clarity returned in her mother's eyes.

Benezia straightened up, her aura tasted calm and serene like the purest water. She was herself again.

"You must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsion. Briefly. But the indoctrination is strong. I hid a small part of my mind and waited for the right moment to betray him. The dreadnaught, Sovereign. The longer you stay on board, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay; he needed it to find the Conduit. I ripped the information from the Rachni Queen's mind. I was not gentle." Benezia admitted the last part with great shame.

 _Mind rape._ The most heinous crime an asari could commit. Saren and Sovereign made her mother violate another's mind.

"I need the location of Mu Relay to stop Saren."

"Of course, Commander. I transcribed the data to an OSD. Take it." Benezia said, and handed the item over.

"Knowing the relay's coordinates is not enough. Do you know where he planned to go from there?" Liara asked.

Benezia shook her head in regret. "Saren wouldn't tell me his destination. But you must find out quickly. I transmitted the coordinates to him before you arrived. You have to stop..." She grabbed her head with both hands, trying desperately to hold onto her sanity. "Stop me. I can't… You should…"

Liara wept as she pleaded with a broken heart. "Mother! Don't leave. Fight him!"

With the last moment of lucidity, Benezia smiled lovingly at her only daughter. "You've always made me proud, Liara."

"Mother…"

Shepard lunged forward and stabbed the Matriarch's neck with a small device. Benezia's eyes went round in shock before they rolled to the back of her head as her knees buckled underneath her own weight. Shepard caught the woman before she hit the ground.

"What did you do?!" Liara shouted at the Commander.

Benezia's eyes fluttered open weakly. They were unfocused, but they were firmly on Liara's tearstained face. "Goodnight, Little Wing. I will see you again with the dawn…"

And then she was still.

Shepard carefully folded Benezia in her arms in a bridal carry. "Dr. Chakwas gave me the injector. The drug puts your mother under a medical coma. I've procured the best cryogenic stasis pod I could find from Illium. It's on the Normandy right now. Benezia is indoctrinated, but she is not completely gone. I don't know how long it'll take, but we'll find some way to get her back. I promise. Even if it means we need to destroy every last stinking Reaper in the galaxy to free her mind, we'll do it."

Liara was completely lost for words. What could she say? When she agreed to be part of the mission, she was fully prepared to commit matricide. And now she was told she had a chance to turn it into a rescue? A choked sob escaped her throat. Liara broke into an ugly, hysterical cry. She flung her arms around the two women she loved with all her heart and hugged them with all the strength she possessed.

Eventually, Liara reluctantly let go when she heard Garrus clearing his throat behind her. "Um, we should get going."

Shepard agreed. "Yes, we should. It's best to have Dr. Chakwas take a look at Benezia as soon as possible. Garrus, take Tartakovsky to the med bay in the science station. The Mako only seats three. I need you to stay behind with the scientists in case more rachni show up. We'll arrange transport and get everyone out."

"Aye, aye." Garrus nodded.

Shepard was about to say something else, but she was interrupted when she saw movements in the corner of her eyes. The body of one of the many dead asari commandos rose up woodenly from the ground, turned around, and spoke in a way that was reminiscent of how Shiala's clone spoke in Feros. "This one. Serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colourless."

"Hold your fire." Shepard ordered before Garrus could shoot the commando.

Inside the isolation tank, the Rachni Queen wiggled her tentacles in synchronicity with the movements of the dead asari.

"Musics? I don't understand." Shepard asked.

Through the dead asari, the Rachni Queen explained, "your way of communication is strange. Flat. It does not colour the air. When we speak, one moves all."

Shepard regarded the the Rachni Queen with some caution. "Why do you wish to communicate with us?"

"The children we birthed were stolen before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. These needle-men. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no song of their own. Children know only fear if no one sings to them. Fear has shattered their mind. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are." The Rachni Queen lamented.

Shepard nodded. "If they can't be saved, I will do what's necessary."

"Before you go, we stand before you. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?" The Rachni Queen asked.

Garrus looked at the creature with trapedition. "See that contraption in there? It's rigged up to release acid to flood the tank. The rachni are dangerous. We shouldn't let her live."

Liara disagreed. "It is not her fault to be alive. If we kill her, we are committing genocide."

"What are you planning to do if I let you go? Will you attack other races to start another war?" Shepard asked.

"We will seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return. We… I did not know what happened in the war. We were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note." The Rachni Queen replied.

Shepard did a double take. "The rachni were mind-controlled? Was it indoctrination?"

The Rachni Queen paused. "We do not know. The Mother you carry cried as ours did."

Garrus muttered, "the Council is going to love this."

Shepard made up her mind. "I won't destroy your entire race. You'll go free."

"You will give us a chance to compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children." The Rachni Queen wiggled her tentacles and released her control of the dead asari.

"My hands are a bit full. Could you…?" Shepard said to Liara.

Liara smiled and quickly typed in the commands in the terminal to release the hatch. The Rachni Queen gave the squad one last dip of her head in gratitude before she left.

"One more thing." Shepard adjusted Benezia in her arms. "The Council. I'm afraid what they would do to Benezia if they know she is captured instead of killed."

Liara looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

Shepard frowned uncertainly. "Do you really want me to spell it out?"

Liara was suddenly afraid to know the answer.

Garrus, on the other hand, did not get the hints right away. He needed the clarification. "Yes. I don't understand."

Shepard gave Liara an apologetic look before she explained. "Asari Matriarchs are known to possess the strongest mental fortitude in the galaxy. Now there is a mind-control method that could bend even the strongest mind. What do you think people would do with that knowledge? The Council would put Benezia under arrest and keep her in their custody. I don't think I can fully trust them to treat Benezia right."

"You mean they might violate my mother further by experimenting on her to learn the secret to indoctrinate others, instead of trying to cure her." Liara said flatly.

Garrus winced. "I did not consider that possibility."

"But if we let the Council think Benezia is killed, then Liara would have custody of her mother's body." Shepard suggested.

"Count me in. I was C-Sec. I understand how the Council operates. All the bureaucratic red tapes they set up are there for their own benefit. Your concern is… not unfounded." Garrus said.

Liara enveloped the turian in a tight hug. "Thank you."

Garrus' mandibles fluttered in embarrassment. "Um, you're welcome."

Shepard smiled at her squadmates. "Alright then, let's go."

x-x-x

It was not a difficult task to make everyone think Benezia was dead. Shepard was glad of that. One look at Liara's puffy eyes and Benezia's still form was all the evidence people needed to come to the obvious conclusion on their own.

Shepard left Benezia in the stasis pod in the med bay. Through the glass panel, the matriarch's face looked perfectly relaxed and hauntingly serene - she looked both dead and alive at the same time. In a literal sense, Benezia was in purgatory.

For a brief moment, Shepard wondered in morbid fascination whether that was what she herself had looked like to Liara when the maiden handed her corpse over to Cerberus. And then she quickly remembered that her body was a lot more damaged when it was recovered from Alchera. She had never visited the Normandy crash site herself. The same day she received the message from Admiral Hackett, she also received a message from the Delusive Man to locate the missing science team in Mnemosyne.

At first, she didn't go because she was too busy with the whole Collector business to split her attention, but she knew the real reason why. The unbeatable Commander Shepard was too afraid to go. Liara did visit the crash site, though. Shepard once found her old N7 helmet and her dog tags hidden inside a secured box in Liara's office on the Normandy SR-2. She never brought it up, and Liara never said anything.

Shepard never wanted to see Liara hurt by losing her loved ones again. She might hate Cerberus for a lot of things, but she was forever grateful that they had brought her back from the dead so Liara did not have to suffer so much.

"You can trust Dr. Chakwas. She will make sure Benezia is perfectly preserved in stasis. The drugs and the biotic collar will mask her lifesign if someone scans the pod." Holding Liara in an intimate hug, Shepard whispered into the side of her under-crest, while tenderly brushing her cheek with a thumb in a comforting gesture.

Liara gave her a jerky nod as a reply.

"It's been a very long day for you. You should rest. I'll take Ashley with me for the evec. I really should go. Lots of cleanup to do." Shepard said, and she meant it. She only had time to drop off the T'Soni's on the Normandy. There were still dozens of people trapped in Peak 15 that needed rescuing.

Captain Matsuo was one of the few reasonable person Shepard had met in Port Hanshan. It didn't take much wrangling to get her to agree to arrange for a twelve-men shuttle bus that would significantly speed up the evacuating process for the scientists in Peak 15.

The evacuation went smoothly. Shepard's Mako escort only ran into a few geth on the mountain path. There was no more rachni inside Peak 15. Even if there were more rachni out there running free in the icy wilderness of Noveria, they were no longer Shepard's problem.

Captain Matsuo was understandably upset by the death of so many ERCS guards at the hands of a Council Spectre. To that, Shepard had one thing to say. "Clean house. You have too many mercenaries in guards' uniform."

One other problem they ran into was Tartakovsky. Port Hanshan did not have a good enough medical facility to handle his injury, so Shepard had to take him on board the Normandy to be treated by Dr. Chakwas. He would be dropped off at the Huerta Memorial Hospital once they reached the Citadel. As good as Dr. Chakwas was, she simply did not have enough materials to construct an entire cybernetic leg for Tartakovsky.

The mood of the after mission debrief was somber. They had scored a major win against Saren by defeating Benezia, his second-in-command. They had also obtained the coordinates of the Mu Relay, critical intel to bring down Saren. But Benezia was Liara's mother. Clearly, everyone with eyes could see that the maiden was hurting. Furthermore, even with the intel they were no closer to finding the rogue Spectre himself.

"What's our next move, Commander? Head for the Mu Relay?" Ashley asked.

"Not so fast. The Mu Relay can link to dozens of systems, hundreds of worlds. Unless we know exactly where Saren is going, we'd just be wasting time. We can't afford to rush off blind." Shepard said.

"But when we do, we will know how to get there." Liara pointed out the silver lining.

"Exactly." Shepard smiled. "And don't forget, we did come across a few leads when we were on Noveria. What we have here is not your typical military operation - this is detective work."

"I see." Ashley scratched her head. "I guess this is what running with a Spectre is like. More C-Sec than Alliance."

Garrus twitched his mandibles. "With a lot less red tape."

"And a lot more explosions." Tali added.

Shepard chuckled.

"I hope the Council wouldn't be too hard on you again, Commander. They're not going to be happy about the Rachni Queen." Kaidan said thoughtfully. "Although I have this funny feeling they are going to be unhappy with you no matter what you do."

"I don't know what you were thinking, Shepard." Wrex was not particularly happy with Shepard's decision to free the Rachni Queen either, and he made sure to voice his displeasure. "It was a mistake not to kill that bug when you could. Millions of our ancestors died to put these things down, and you decided to give them the chance to come back."

Shepard regarded the unhappy krogan with a raised eyebrow. "Forget the old grudge, Wrex. You of all people should be glad that the rachni are back. If they become a problem, maybe the Council will find themselves needing krogan help again. Wouldn't that be an excellent kick in the butt for them to hurry up and find a cure for the genophage? You might even get a second krogan statue in the Citadel for your trouble. If the rachni behave themselves, then that means I've done the right thing not killing their entire race off. Either way, you've got nothing to lose."

Wrex stared at the Commander with his mouth open. "You are one tricky bastard, you know that?"

Shepard grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Fine. Just remember, if the Council wants us to deal with the rachni again, they will have to beg real nice to get any help from us. I expect nothing less than shameless graveling." Wrex grumbled.

"I'll make sure they do that." Shepard smirked. She knew she had made the right decision. Last time she killed the Rachni Queen because she did not want to risk another Rachni War. She did not expect the Reapers would create their own version of the queen, the Breeder, and used it to breed an army of twisted Ravagers as their shock troops. She had committed genocide for nothing. This time, by sparing the Queen, she hoped to enlist the rachni's help when the Reapers invaded.

Her mission was to unite _all_ races against the Reapers - batarians and rachni included.

"Anything else? No? Crew dismissed."

Joker's voice came through the comm as people were filing out of the conference room. "Noveria report is away, Commander. You want me to patch you through to the Council?"

Shepard stood up from her seat and faced the FTL comm unit. "Patch them through, Joker."

"Setting up the link now, Commander."

The holographic images of the three Councillors flickered on. Tevos was the first to speak. She sounded worried. "Is the report accurate, Commander? You've found rachni on Noveria?"

Sparatus interjected angrily before Shepard could answer. "And released the queen! Do you have any idea what you've done? How many generations until they overrun the galaxy?"

"The ancient rachni were mind-controlled into fighting a war they never intended to be a part of. This queen is different. She understood why those insane beasts of war had to be wiped out. She thought it was mercy. I don't know about other races, but humans generally do not enjoy committing genocide." Shepard defended her position. Using Sparatus' own words against him seemed to be very effective. The turian was silent after her retort.

Valern's left eye twitched in annoyance. "This mind-control nonsense again. Commander, you can't keep using that excuse for every wrong-doing out there."

Shepard gave the salarian an unblinking stare. Very soon, Valern was going to wish he had never made such a comment. "No, I can't, and I won't. Regardless of how the Rachni War came to be thousands of years ago, mind-control remains a real threat today. Indoctrination is one of the most powerful weapons the Reapers have in their arsenal. I urge the Council to take it very seriously."

Tevos let out a sigh. It appeared she was also very tired of listening to Shepard's warnings. "Commander, you need to focus on Saren. There is no evidence the Reapers you spoke of even exist. They are fanciful stories Saren made up to distract you, nothing more. You are playing right into his hands, chasing fairy tales."

Shepard had to count to ten inside her head to prevent from shouting at the asari Councillor. "I signed up as a Spectre to maintain peace and stability of the galaxy. You can count on me to do whatever is necessary to complete my mission. I know who my enemies are, I know what is at stake." _Do you?_

Her reply seemed to be diplomatic enough to appease the Council. "Very well. We await your next report." Tevos said, and disconnected the call.

Shepard rubbed her temples tiredly. As far as Council meetings went, it wasn't too bad. Still, she felt like a drink and a shower afterwards.

 _Politicians._

x-x-x

A/N: I always found Liara's reaction to Benezia's death to be unrealistically calm, that's why I decided to write the Noveria arc from her POV to give her character some depth. She wasn't given nearly enough screen time in the first game. Also, Shepard was mocking the Illusive Man in her head by referring to him as the Delusive Man. It wasn't a typo.


	8. I-08: No Man Left Behind

Book I - Chapter 8: No Man Left Behind

Shepard knew she must have looked really stupid; sitting frozen in front of her desk, her body half turned toward the door with her eyes round and her mouth hanging open.

Liara shifted her weight from one foot to another, chewing her lower lip nervously while she waited for the Commander's reply.

"You are?" Shepard finally found her voice.

Liara nodded. "Yes."

Shepard tiled her head in genuine confusion. "Are you sure?"

The deep purple blush looked painful on the maiden's face. "I have given this matter considerable thought. This decision was not made on a whim. I have weighed the pros and cons, analysed every variable and anticipated a great range of outcomes. Yes, I have never been more sure of anything in my life."

Slowly but steadily, Shepard rose from her seat. The maiden's breath hitched as Shepard stalked purposefully toward her. "You are ready, you want this, you are sure?" Shepard whispered into Liara's under-crest, her lips not quite touching the delicate scales, giving her one last chance to back out.

"Goddess, yes!" Liara's confirmation came out sounding like a high-pitched moan; she finally lost her patience with the repeated questions. She none too gently grabbed Shepard's head, and crushed her lips into the Commander's own in a frantic kiss.

The first brush of Shepard's biotic charged fingers on Liara's under-crest had the maiden break away from the kiss with a loud cry. Intimately familiar with just how sensitive this particular body part was, Shepard did not dare to touch it before Liara was completely ready for the union. She ripped open Liara's high collar and latched her lips over a pulse point. The taste of sweet pheromone on her tongue had her eyes rolling to the back of her head. All of a sudden, the thought of having clothes between them was unbearable.

It appeared Liara was having the same idea. She was clawing at Shepard's uniform, trying but failing to loosen it.

Shepard, on the other hand, was a lot more successful at removing Liara's clothes due to the unfair advantage called _prior experience_. Not breaking the seal of her lips on Liara's skin, she unzipped the lab coat in one smooth pull and deftly tugged the coat over Liara's shoulders, effectively restraining the maiden's arms behind her. Shepard pulled back from the kiss to admire the view of her half-naked, half-restrained lover, and dove forward to capture one straining tip of her breasts between her lips with an approving groan.

Liara struggled to free her arms of her coat, but Shepard was making her task infinitely more difficult. Sensing Liara's distress, Shepard reached behind her and untangled the coat off her arms. Once freed, Liara immediately went back to pulling at Shepard's uniform. Shepard let out a throaty chuckle around a pebbled nipple at the maiden's futile attempt. The vibration only encouraged Liara to try harder.

"Take off your clothes." Liara demanded. Her eyes were swimming in black from arousal.

Shepard released Liara's breasts with a wet pop, straightened up, and quickly undid all the buckles holding her uniform together. Two seconds later, every scrap of clothing she was wearing was discarded on the floor in a small pile. "As you wish."

x-x-x

Shepard thought she must have done something right this time around, because Liara made the decision to join with her far before the threat of imminent death came to loom over their heads. She was not going to complain about a good thing, though.

The timing was perfect, too. There was no interruption. They had enough time for round two, round three, until she lost count.

More importantly, she did not need to follow a virgin's instructions this time. Her unusual circumstances made it so she did know Liara's body better than the maiden did herself. Last time, it was incredible. This time, it was mind shatteringly awesome. Liara's reactions had inflated her ego so much at this point, she feared it might never fit through the doorway again.

Liara shifted in her arms. Shepard looked down at the blue head resting on her breasts and planted a soft kiss at the top of her crest.

"Remind me again why I insisted on waiting so long before jumping in bed with you? I can't even remember what I was afraid of." Liara asked sleepily.

"You said you found me intimidating." Shepard suggested.

Liara giggled. "Right. That is still true. But in a good way."

"How are you doing? I wasn't too rough with you, was I?" Shepard lightly traced a few purple love marks littered on Liara's shoulders. There were more elsewhere, but she couldn't see them from this angle.

"No, you weren't. It was just right. Although I'm feeling quite sore and sticky right now. I'm hungry and thirsty too."

Shepard smiled. "Shower and food sounds lovely."

x-x-x

Shepard stared at the object thrusted in front of her face with some confusion. "Medi-gel?" She looked up from her plate of food. Ashley was standing there, one hand holding a tray of food, another hand holding a tube of medi-gel.

Ashley was not meeting her eyes. "Thought you might need it." There was a tinge of blush on her cheeks as she waved the tube in a vague gesture.

"Oh." Suddenly realizing why she might need the medi-gel, Shepard accepted the item with a blush of her own. "Thanks."

Ashley joined Shepard at her table. "Can't let you walk around with _that_ on your neck. It looks painful. Little Miss Prothean Expert has sharp teeth. Like I said before, it's always the quiet ones." She paused for a moment and added with a wicked grin. "Although, she was certainly not quiet in bed. You would think they would soundproof the Captain's cabin better."

"What?!"

"The noise cleared everyone out of the crew deck. You should've seen it. Bunch of tough marines hiding in the cargo bay to escape the sounds of the two hottest women on the ship having loud sex."

"Kill me now." Shepard put a hand over her eyes in mortification.

"Relax, skipper. I was joking. It wasn't that bad."

Shepard gave her a dirty look.

Ashely was unfazed. "You wouldn't let me tease Liara. So that means you're fair game. Hey, at least you got some action, unlike the rest of us. The least you could do is let us lonely people talk about it."

Shepard rolled her eyes in a very undignified manner. "Fine."

"So? Any details?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "I don't kiss and tell."

Ashley pouted. "You're no fun."

x-x-x

Liara's eyes glazed over in memory, her face holding a dreamy expression. "It was glorious."

Tali listened attentively. "Yes? How so?"

"Shepard was… extraordinary. Everything she did. I did not know it was possible to feel so much and not to be rendered unconscious. Thought that did happened a few times. Her mind, her spirit. To merge with Shepard, someone who burns as brightly as a supernova… Oh Tali, it was impossible to describe. It was divine."

"Wow." Tali breathed. "So, did she use the biotic technique you told me?"

"Oh yes she did. Liberally."

"How about the stamina thing Joker was telling everyone about?"

"Shepard certainly has stamina to spare. It was hard to keep up."

"What about the tongue thing Private Fredricks was so sure of?"

Liara was a bit confused by the question. "What tongue thing? Can you be more specific? There was a lot of different things Shepard did with her tongue."

Tali's eyes lit up. "Do tell!"

x-x-x

 _Aethyta,_

 _My name is Jane Shepard. We've never met each other before, but I need your help._

 _On Eden Prime, I accidentally activated a working Prothean Beacon and had the psychic information stored inside downloaded into my brain. The beacon contained nothing but a dire warning - the Reapers are coming. They are a hyper-advanced race of machines that caused the Prothean extinction 50,000 years ago. According to Dr. Liara T'Soni, a Prothean expert, every 50,000 years, the Reapers will come and eradicate all advanced civilizations. She called it the "Cycle of Extinction". And now it's our turn to face our doom._

 _This sounds like a bedtime story to scare children, doesn't it? The Council certainly thought so. Even with irrefutable evidence of Saren and Benezia stating that they were working to bring the Reapers back, they still dismissed the Reapers as a mere story. This was why I did not bother to inform the Council of my vision because I knew they would laugh the freckles off my ass if I did._

 _The Reapers are dangerous. Their unique tech can enslave even the strongest mind. This process is known as "indoctrination". Even a powerful asari Matriarch such as Benezia fell victim to its control. Saren sent his geth to kill Liara on Therum. Benezia would have never allowed any harm come to her precious Little Wing if her mind were still her own._

 _The Council will do nothing to prepare for the upcoming Reaper invasion. The Alliance, wanting a Council seat so desperately, will eagerly follow the Council's lead. When the Reapers come, we will all be fucked._

 _I refuse to roll over and die._

 _If the authorities won't help me, I'm going to seek help elsewhere. Illium is the gateway to the Terminus system, and you are one of the most influential people in Illium. This is why I must ask for your help. I have made plans to prepare for the war, but I know I'm under heavy surveillance due to my status as the first human Spectre. Both the pro-human terrorist group Cerberus and the Shadow Broker are looking into everything I do._

 _The help I need from you is your influence and your discretion. Here is a list of items to acquire:_

 _1 Illium issued ID card for one asari named Janiri_

 _1 salvage license_

 _1 merchant freighter_

 _Here is the account number and password to access the 1 million credit in the account._

 _Thank you for considering my request, and for reading this long-winded letter to the end. I owe you a huge favour. If I ever visit Illium, I will buy you a drink._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Jane Shepard_

x-x-x

 _Message is encrypted. Password prompt: The same one you used._

 _Subject: Janiris celebration_

 _From: Janiri_

 _Aethyta,_

 _This is urgent. Please try to find the best cryogenic stasis pod and biotic collar you can and have them shipped to Eden Prime to Benezia's old disciple Shiala. I've put in two million credits into the same account._

 _And thank you for the fleet. I will put them to good use. Please have them delivered to Shiala as well._

 _Thanks,_

 _Jane Shepard_

x-x-x

 _Aethyta,_

 _I've received the items in Eden Prime. They are exactly what I need._

 _I've got intel Benezia is in Noveria. I'm planning to put her on ice if everything goes right. I really don't want to kill Liara's mother, and I don't trust the Council with Benezia if I capture her. Do you have a safe place in Illium where I can hide her away?_

 _Thanks,_

 _Jane Shepard_

x-x-x

 _Aethyta,_

 _Thank you for offering a safe place. I've got Benezia. I'll be in the Citadel tomorrow. I'm going to give her to Sha'ira to "arrange for transport back to Thessia for a proper funeral"._

 _Please make sure that biotic collar is never taken off. Benezia must_ _never_ _be woken up from the stasis, not until a cure is found. The Reapers still have a tight grip over Benezia's mind. If she wakes, you will have to put her down. I cannot stress this enough. She is better off dead than under Reaper control. I've seen what they can do to indoctrinated servants from the beacon. They can mutate organic bodies and transform them into grotesque monsters. Liara is still having nightmares from seeing the vision in my mind. I will not let her mother be turned into a Husk._

 _Thanks,_

 _Jane Shepard_

x-x-x

Liara sat on the bench outside the Consort's chambers, waiting for Shepard to finish her private meeting with Sha'ira. As a well respected matriarch, Sha'ira was the best person to grant Shepard a favour and arrange for her mother's body to be transported back to Thessia for a proper funeral. At least, that was the official story if anyone cared to ask.

Shepard had promised Liara she would have a trusted friend hide Benezia away, outside of Council space. Liara guessed this trusted friend must be the Consort's contact. There would be no better judge of character than a powerful Consort. She would trust this friend as much as she would trust Sha'ira's judgement.

Garrus had left for the C-Sec Academy a moment ago. Liara did not want to pry into his own affairs. Whatever news he heard from the one C-Sec officer they met earlier was urgent enough that he decided he needed to visit the Academy to gather more information on his own.

"Mind if I sit here?" An unfamiliar asari with a deep blue, almost purple skin, asked. Judging by the shape and size of her facial scales, this asari was a matriarch of over a thousand years old.

"Please, Matriarch, have a seat." Liara replied politely.

The matriarch sat down next to her. "Beautiful place, the Citadel. All perfect and civilized. Like they are better than everyone else." She said in a distinctive gravelly voice.

Liara looked at the matriarch with questions in her eyes.

"Aethyta. Skip the title. It makes me feel old." The asari held out a hand.

Liara shook it. "Liara."

"So, Liara, what's a maiden like you doing outside of the Consort's chambers? Why not just go in and have a good time? Don't tell me you're a prude." Aethyta asked with a lopsided smile.

The unexpectedly rude comment stunned Liara for a moment before she found her voice. "What? No, I am not a prude. I'm here on business, not for pleasure. I have no reason to see the Consort or her acolytes."

Aethyta pulled a face. "You sound like a sheltered baby bird. When I was your age, I was stripping in a dance club, making credits like nobody's business. It's called the wild maiden years for a reason, kid."

Liara looked offended. "It's your prerogative to do as you wish with your life. I chose to spend my maiden years pursuing my own passion, uncovering Prothean artifacts in remote digs. I've dealt with slavers, privateers, and mercs on my own. I've fought geth, thresher maws, krogans, and rachni. I'm far from sheltered."

"Rachni? Now you're pulling my legs. They're extinct. My father was a krogan. He used to show me scars and tell me stories about the Rachni War." Aethyta reminisced with a wistful look on her face.

"I have no reason to lie. We've found rachni on Noveria. The Council is aware of this. It seems they've decided to keep the news under wraps." Liara said with a frown.

"Like I said, all perfect and civilized. As long as you don't dig, you'll never find the buried bodies. Typical." Aethyta snorted derisively.

Liara was quiet. She supposed Aethyta was right. Throughout their mission, the Council had been proven to be more of a hinderance than a help. Other than a few tidbits of information on geth and an impressive title of Spectre, they had offered Shepard no help at all. They were unreasonably harsh on the Commander, and they repeated dismissed her warnings only because those were incompatible with their own perfect little world. The Reapers were coming to doom them all, and the Council was determined to do nothing.

"Hey, cheer up, kid. Don't look all sad on me." Aethyta sounded worried.

"Liara?" Shepard called out from behind her. Liara stood up and turned around to face the Commander. Upon seeing Liara, Shepard became agitated. "Are you alright? Why are you upset?"

"I'm fine." Liara said, and let herself be folded into a comforting hug. She closed her eyes and buried her face in the crook of Shepard's neck, soaking up the comfort and strength from the woman she loved.

"Sorry, did I make you wait too long? I can make it up to you later." Shepard whispered suggestively.

Liara giggled. "Shepard!"

"Hum. You're not as much of a prude as I thought." Aethyta commented drily.

Liara felt Shepard stiffened in her arms. _Do they know each other?_

Shepard carefully extracted herself from the hug to regard the matriarch with a frown. "And you are…?"

"Nobody important. Just passing time chatting up a cute birdy." Aethyta gave Liara an impolite leer.

Shepard scowled. "Quit it before I headbutt you into the lake."

"Scary. Do you even know how to execute a proper headbutt? Half-krogan here. Let me tell you, it's an art." Aethyta taunted.

Sensing the rising tension, Liara stepped in to mediate. "Nobody is headbutting anyone. Shepard, this is Matriarch Aethyta. We were just talking. Aethyta, this is Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. You don't want to pick a fight with her."

"Spectre, ooh. Sounds like a big shot." Aethyta mocked.

Shepard let out an exasperated sigh. "Liara, she is the _trusted friend_ I was telling you about. Apparently she is a bigger pain in the butt than I thought."

Liara's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Her?"

"I guess so. We've never met in person before. And I didn't expect to see her here." Shepard said.

"You can thank Sha'ira for that. I didn't plan on being here. She can nag. No wonder she's still single." Aethyta grumbled.

"I said I would buy you a drink. Still interested?" Shepard asked.

"Nah. I need to stay sober a little longer. I can get drunk off my ass after this is over," Aethyta said quietly and stood up from her seat. Before she walked away, she stopped next to Liara and said, "your mom might've treated you like a baby bird, but I knew you were gonna be special, kid. Any daughter of hers... You're gonna raise one hell of a storm with those little wings."

"Little Wing..." Liara repeated dumbly. Before she could get another word out, Aethyta had already left. "She said... she knew. She is…"

"The most powerful Matriarch in Illium. A complete black sheep, too. She left Thessia with a broken heart after her pregnant bondmate left her. They were together for a century before that. Must have been one hell of a fight." Shepard said while studying her face carefully.

"You knew?!"

Shepard nodded. "I looked her up when I was doing researching on Benezia. Couldn't think of a better person for this job."

"I don't know how I should feel about this. For the longest time, I thought she didn't want me."

"Hey," Shepard touched Liara's cheek tenderly. "That's not true. She loves you. She only stayed away because she loved Benezia too much."

"I… have a lot to think about." Liara finally said.

Shepard smiled at her. "Aethyta is half-krogan. Does that make you a quarter krogan? Have you ever felt the urge to headbutt people? Wrex will be pleased to hear that."

"What? No, that's not how asari physiology works." Liara protested.

"I don't know. You do have quite the strong bite. It seems krogan to me." Shepard teased, lightly tapping the bruising bite mark on the side of her neck hidden underneath the hardsuit to emphasize her point.

Liara felt her cheeks burn. "It was your own fault! You were doing the thing with the…" Her voice trailed off.

Shepard's brilliant green eyes twinkled like mad. "You liked it."

"I'm not talking to you." Liara pouted.

"Is that a challenge?" Shepard gave her a roguish grin before whispering in a voice so low, it tickled her under-crest like a feathery caress. "You can attempt to stay quiet. I bet I can make you _sing_ for me if I really try. Your voice is lovely."

The innuendo almost made Liara's cheeks erupted in flame. "Shepard!"

"Yes, that's what I would like to hear from your lips." The Commander agreed smugly.

Liara stared at the shameless flirt. Part of her was scandalized, but for the most part, she was secretly very flattered. Growing up, she had been too socially awkward to participate in anything remotely resembled romance. She did not have the interest, nor sexual confidence to flirt with anyone before. She wondered if she could do it with Shepard. It took her a few seconds of furious thinking to finally come up with an acceptable retort. "Because yours would be too busy to speak." She delivered the line with a bored tone.

Shepard looked stunned by what Liara just said.

Liara gave the Commander a teasing smile and began to walk away with an extra sway in her hips. "Garrus is at the C-Sec Academy. We should go see him." She paused, and added with a knowing look, "are you _coming_?"

Shepard followed dumbly, completely lost for words. Liara had never felt as confident and sure of herself than when she had Shepard's eyes glued on her rear.

x-x-x

While waiting for the Council to hurry up and send her to Virmire, Shepard found more rachni on Nepmos.

It was hardly surprising. Afterall, they were following up on intel gathered on Noveria. Since they had found rachni in Cerberus labs on Binthu, it was safe to assume that there could be rachni in other locations.

It was a sad sight that greeted the squad when they found the Alliance encampment. Shepard cursed loudly as she drove the Mako behind the defensive walls and parked it next to the disabled generator. "Alenko, get the turrets online! Williams, with me!" She ordered.

There were only three Alliance soldiers alive manning the walls. The open field between the rachni burrows and the temporary Alliance base was littered with corpses, both human and rachni. There was a neat pile of human bodies next to the barrack, but the majority of them were sprawled on the ground where they died. The ones that were closer to the burrows were in small pieces, and the ones that were closer to the base all suffered horrendous acid damage.

"Hold the line!" Shepard shouted at the soldiers. Their arrival had added enough firepower to finally push the invading rachni back after an intense exchange.

When there was a lull in the battle, one marine racked her rifle and saluted the Commander. "First Lieutenant Durand, ma'am. Third Brigade, 14th Infantry Regiment. And I'm damned glad to see you."

Shepard gave her a grim nod. "Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. We heard you needed some backup."

"Actually, we need to get the hell out of here. But I guess your ship couldn't carry us all." Durand gestured at the fallen marines on the ground.

The Normandy could easily handle three live marines and their equipment, but it would require a freighter to store and transport all the dead marines off world. Dead or alive, there was no way Durand was going to leave her platoon behind.

Shepard respected that. "No, it couldn't. I need a sitrep."

Durand briefed the Commander on the situation. "They dropped us here a few months back. We get supplies every couple weeks. We didn't see anything local that was more dangerous than lichen. Yesterday, these animal started coming out of the ground. No idea where they're from. This is what's left out of 90 men. I'm the ranking officer."

Shepard didn't bother to inform her that those _animals_ were sentient; she doubted the Lieutenant was in the mood to be educated on xenobiology after watching her whole platoon get slaughtered. "Anything else you can tell me?" She asked.

"Yes. What we just fought was a probe. Our seismic sensors are picking up a crapload more right underneath our feet. There is also another gigantic hollow space southwest of here at the abandoned mine. It's probably their nest. We've got five minutes, tops. We might be able to hold them off if we were at peak, but..." Durand shook her head, downtrodden.

The woman's reply set the Commander into her face, snarling like a Drill Sergeant on a raw recruit at boot. "That's defeatist talk. You're a marine, so act like it! You're fighting enemies that will eat you alive. There are only two rules: everyone fights, no one quits. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am. The only good bug is a dead bug, ma'am!" Durand snapped a salute.

Shepard turned to Kaidan. "How are the turrets coming along?"

"Generator is hooked up to the Mako. Turrets are back online." He replied.

Shepard let out a bloodthirsty grin. "Good. Alenko, man the left wall. Williams, hold the middle. I'll be on the right wall. Let's do the universe a favour and put down those insane rachni. Get into positions."

"Aye, aye!"

The bugs came in huge waves. Those clever bastards understood they needed to use their superior numbers against six humans. Shepard and Kaidan countered that strategy by using their biotics to herd the rachni towards the middle of the field into a tight group to be finished off by the concentrated fire from the two gun turrets and Ashley. One saving grace was that the battleground was an open field, not an enclosed space. At least they had room to maneuver.

There must have been hundreds of bugs hiding deep in the underground tunnels. The dead bodies of rachni began to pile up, but they would climb over their own dead and kept advancing towards the encampment like crazed fast-zombies in horror vids. Between waves, Shepard had to use her biotics with high explosive grenades to pulverize the highest pile close to Ashley to give the Gunnery Chief a clear line of sight.

It took what seemed like hours for this relentless assault to finally taper off.

Durand looked as if she couldn't quite believe she had lived through the battle. "Holy hell. Talk about a near-run thing. You all right?"

Shepard looked at the green goo splattered on her filthy Predator armor and replied, "another regular day at the office. What about you? When was the last time you slept, or ate?"

"26 hours ago, but I'll live. Another thing you should know. One of our listening posts in the system went offline three days ago. I don't know what caused it, but you might want to check it out."

"Alright, we'll drop by. But first, I'm gonna take my squad and clear out that mine. I'll send some marines over to help you with the bodies and call in the Alliance for transport. You hang in there." Shepard patted the marine on the arm.

Durand hesitated. "Are you sure you don't need more backup?"

Shepard waved off her concerns. "No need to worry about me, Lieutenant. I can take care of myself. See to your men and get some rest. You still have a long day ahead of you."

x-x-x

On Shepard's orders, the Normandy landed on Nepmos and the crew spent a day helping out with death detail. As the Staff Lieutenant of the ship, Kaidan was tasked to lead a team of six marines for this operation. Ashley refused to take a break and included herself in Kaidan's team. Half of the bodies were in pieces, and all of them were dripping acid. It was an extremely unpleasant job meant only for Alliance soldiers, but Garrus, a turian of all people, volunteered to help out. This compassionate gesture earned him great respect from everyone, even the ones who were previously prejudiced against turians.

Shepard was confident Garrus would one day make an excellent Spectre.

While her crew helped with cleanup at the encampment, Shepard took Liara and Wrex into the mine for a different kind of cleanup. Fighting rachni in an enclosed space was a nightmare, but her two squadmates were powerful biotics who excelled at crowd control. The krogan was practically built to be the natural enemy of rachni, and Liara had experience from her mission in Noveria. It took them awhile, but they cleared out the mine with only minor injuries.

Afterwards, they went straight to Altahe to check on the listening post Durand had mentioned.

Although Shepard had not been on this assignment before, she already knew that it was highly unlikely for her to find any survivors in the Alliance base if rachni were involved. When she saw all the dirt mounds surrounding the pre-fab Alliance camp, her suspicion was all but confirmed.

"Yup, those are rachni burrows alright. Hold on tight!" Shepard said and stepped on the gas.

"Maybe we should get out and fight on foot?" Garrus shouted out his question in a terrified treble.

Wrex whooped in excitement. "Yeah! Bring it on! I got the cannon!"

The Mako shot forward like an enraged rhino. Shepard nudged the wheel, and the vehicle lurched to the left. She drove circles around the camp at top speed a few times, luring all the rachni out of the underground tunnels by intruding on their territory. The angry bugs began spitting acid at the Mako as soon as they were above ground.

Shepard jerked the wheel around, dodging jets of acid expertly while Wrex returned cannon fire at the rachni. After wiping out about a third of the enemies, Garrus lost his lunch on his lap.

"Nasty!" Wrex complained.

Garrus moaned miserably.

They cleared out the rachni outside and entered the camp. Shepard found out first hand that even though Garrus's dignity took a hit, his accuracy did not suffer from his unfortunate case of car sickness.

Inside the facility, they found some red, organic pods that did not match anything in the database. Shepard took a scan and left them alone - no way was she going to risk taking them with her on the Normandy.

One other useful intel Shepard found was the camp's shipping log. Both of the listening posts that had rachni infestation had their supplies dropped in by drones from Depot Sigma-23 a few days before the attack.

"Looks like we might have just found the source of our rachni outbreak." Shepard showed the log to her squad.

Garrus muttered, "what kind of suicidal idiot would want to keep rachni on a ship?"

"We'll find out soon." Shepard said.

They found the derelict freighter drifting in the Gorgon system.

Fighting rachni inside a cramped supply ship was asking for disfiguration or disintegration by acid, so Shepard brought along the krogan and the Gunnery Chief as her boarding party. They were heavy armor wearing tanks who specialized in close quarter combat, and they were the two people currently on her crew who had enough piss and vinegar in their bellies to match the rachni.

Shepard recovered a few disconcerting logs on one of the terminals on the ship. According to them, the ship was actually a secret Cerberus base used for resupplying their own private troops and for testing new weapons. Unfortunately for the Cerberus troops, their new weapons decided to eat them for dessert.

Wrex was unamused. "This is a familiar story. A failed experiment with the rachni. Nice to see humans are consistently stupid. Cerberus. I've just about had it with them."

"These bugs need to come with warning labels. 'May cause acid reflux.'" Ashley snarked and did an air _ba-dum tish_ at her own joke.

The ridiculous pun made Shepard snort. But it only made Wrex stare blankly at her.

"Human joke. It's not funny if I have to explain it." Ashley said lamely.

"No, I got it. It just wasn't very funny. Now _this_ is funny - the rachni may appear closer than OH MY EYES!" Wrex deadpanned.

Both Ashley and Shepard broke into a fit of giggles at the stupid joke.

Shepard gasped. "Stop it. We need to focus. Can't get distracted. There're still lots of rachni out there. Get a grip, Williams. I'm gonna arm the demo charges. Better run fast."

Wrex added, "and remember, kid. Don't look back at the explosions. It's cooler that way."

Shepard and Ashley howled in uncontrollable laughter as they dashed through the ship. The countdown clock was ticking away, while numerous Kamikaze bugs hurled themselves at the squad to slow them down. Still, they cackled all the way back to the Normandy, safe behind the ship's kinetic barrier.

They did not look back when the freighter exploded behind them. They were too cool for that.

x-x-x

Liara noticed Shepard had been silently fretting since she received a slew of new assignments from Admiral Hackett. The subtle mood change might not have been very obvious to most, but it was impossible to ignore when she spent so much time with the woman. (Albeit, a disproportionate amount of those time was spent naked and lost in orgasmic bliss.)

The Commander had been fiddling and staring at her Omni-tool a lot. Though she could not see the VI, Liara knew Shepard had Widget running in the background constantly, scouring the extranet for any information she could use to prepare for the war.

"You are frowning again." Liara sat down on Shepard's lap and lightly smoothed over the crease between Shepard's brows with a finger.

Shepard gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

"No, you've been plotting." Liara helpfully pointed it out. "Trying to take over the world?" She teased.

Shepard had the decency to look sheepish. "Not exactly. I'm just a little fed up with all the extra assignments the Alliance have sent me on. I mean, it's one thing when I'm asked to investigate geth activity in the Traverse. At least that's related to my primary mission. But negotiating with cult leaders and freeing hostages? I'm sure there are other people in the Alliance who are competent enough for the job. Why not just send in a team of special forces? I'm not the only N7 on active duty. Heck, when I became a Spectre, I was supposed to be honourably discharged from the Alliance. Technically, I'm retired. Their priority is all messed up."

"I think the reason is fairly obvious - Admiral Hackett gave you those assignments simply because you are the best. Remember, Shepard, the Alliance is following the Council's lead. Since the Council does not recognize the Reaper threat, they've understated the urgency to stop Saren. The Alliance probably still considers you their asset to utilize in the Traverse. Eventually they will learn that they can't use a Spectre as humanity's go-to problem solver. The needs of the galaxy as a whole comes before the needs of one race." Liara reasoned.

Shepard gave her a dubious look. "I highly doubt that day would come. As long as I'm riding in an Alliance vessel with an Alliance crew, they will always treat me like their own errand girl. It doesn't matter to them that I am only supposed to be answerable to the Council. I am human, I am expected to do whatever the Alliance orders me to do. You don't want to know what people are calling me for allowing aliens on board an Alliance ship."

Liara was appalled. "What? That does not make any sense. The Alliance volunteered the Normandy to be used to chase down Saren. It is only logical to have non-human crew members on board the Normandy for Council business. How can humanity truly become a part of the galactic community while standing apart from all the other races? Do people not understand what kind of trust humanity has been given by including a human into the Spectre ranks? You have been burdened with not only great power, but also great responsibilities."

"Uncle Ben would agree." Shepard said with a chuckle. "This is not because of a lack of understanding. I think people tend to have selective memory for things that are inconvenient to them. I would call that human nature, but, well… The Council chose to focus on blaming me for the beacon's destruction on Eden Prime, conveniently forgetting it was their top agent who started the whole mess in the first place. They accepted Tali's audio file as irrefutable proof of Saren's treason, but with the same breath they denounced the existence of the Reapers."

Liara was uncertain what to say to that. "If you don't want to, you really don't have to take those assignments. Regardless what the Alliance may expect of you, stopping Saren is your top priority."

Shepard shook her head slowly. "I can't afford to refuse Alliance assignments, Liara, no matter how ridiculous they are."

"Why not?"

Shepard hugged Liara tighter, breathing in her scent with her eyes closed. "I need to maintain a good relationship with the Alliance, specifically with Admiral Hackett. He is arguably the most respected, and hands down the most capable admiral in the Alliance. When the Reapers come, you want him to be the person in charge. This is why I need to do every crap assignment he hands me. I need him to trust me when I present him irrefutable evidence that the Reapers are invading. He is not the only admiral who can lead the Alliance to war, but he can give us the best chance to win."

Liara pulled back a little from the hug to look at Shepard's face. "If you have already decided to take on those assignments, then what's weighing on your mind?"

"Those assignments are taking us all the way from Hawking Eta to Kepler Verge. The travel time alone is two weeks. The Normandy has state of the art sensors on board, so I suppose it's not a complete waste of time if we scan everything within range for more clues during travel. If we're lucky, we might find more geth... I'm stressed about our other projects, too. Shiala is coordinating everything, so I shouldn't worry, but it's hard not to brood when all I can do is sit here and stew. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to hear back from the Shadow Broker. It's been too quiet, and I don't like it. All this waiting is making me anxious." With a cringe, Shepard confessed all her worries to Liara.

"I'm… surprised." Liara smiled at the Commander with her eyebrows arched in a haughty manner. "As impatient as you are, you've managed to wait three months for me."

The sudden change of topic seemed to derail Shepard's depressing train of thought. "Yes? But that's not the same." She said.

Liara tilted her head and gave Shepard a secretive smile. "No? You're forgetting I can feel what you feel when we join our minds. In retrospect, I am amazed by your remarkable poise and self-control. If I were in your shoes, in my infatuation I would have made a complete fool of myself while attempting to woo you. I would have acted like a gibbering idiot every time we try to have a conversation. Sometimes it still seem inconceivable that someone as extraordinary as you has chosen... me."

Shepard tried to object, but Liara put a finger over her lips to stall any protests. She was not finished yet. "Through the meld, I feel what you feel towards me. Your love for me; it is humbling. Jane, you _adore_ me, like no one else does, not even myself. Having seen through your eyes, I will never see myself the same way again."

With an embarrassed smile, Shepard kissed the finger touching her lips. "It's very flattering to see myself through your eyes, too. Hell of an ego trip." She nuzzled the delicate scales lining Liara's under-crest, and whispered, "you love me. I feel your trust, your admiration. You make me want to be a better person to be worthy of such devotion."

Liara let out a fine shudder at Shepard's touch. "I've never _wanted_ another before I met you. Benezia's father was a salarian. I've always thought my lack of interest in romance came from that side of my ancestry. At the end, all it took was the right partner: you."

Shepard grinned impishly at Liara. "Salarian? You can be quite the krogan if you're worked up. Aethyta would be proud."

Liara lightly slapped Shepard's arm. "Aethyta would not be privy of what we do in private."

"You don't want other people to know what we do in bed? Then how come Tali is so well informed?" Shepard asked drily.

Liara looked down on her lap with a light blush on her cheeks. "Tali is a very close friend. Aethyta is my father."

"You probably didn't know, but quarians are terrible gossips. Unless you specifically request them to keep a secret under their helmets, they will casually blab it out in public. It's not malicious, that's what people do when they are so used to communal living. I was a colonist. I should know. I overheard her correcting Private Fredricks on his misconception regarding my _techniques_. Now the whole crew knows what we do in private. Aethyta will probably find out soon enough."

Liara was mortified. "Goddess! I didn't know she was going to tell other people."

Shepard kissed Liara's temple. "Nah, it's not a big deal. If Tali had not said anything to the crew, they would've made up stories to amuse themselves anyway. They're marines. They might talk about me, but they know better than to tease you. I gave Ashley permission to put her boot down if they cross a line. So far it hasn't happened yet."

"But I don't want _my father_ of all people to find out. The things we do… What would she say?"

"Aethyta would probably tell you, if it's all civilized, you're doing it wrong." Shepard leered at her lover suggestively.

"Shepard!"

x-x-x

Talking down Major Kyle was not easy, but Shepard did it. All it took was pointing out how the guy was going to get all of his faithful children killed if he chose not to cooperate. At the end of the day, Shepard completed the mission without a single drop of blood shed.

The cult leader needed serious counselling to work through his PTSD after what happened at Torfan. Only a ruthless hardass would feel no remorse after sending three quarter of one's own troops to their death just to slaughter surrendering batarians to make a statement. Shepard could only imagine the kind of psychological scar it left on normal people. Major Kyle had cracked under all that guilt. Shepard wondered if she would have fared any better.

Her next assignment was a bit trickier. The biotic terrorists had taken scientists hostage at the Sirta Foundation research facility in Chohe. To minimize civilian casualties, Shepard took the two squadmates who were least likely to accidentally cause collateral damage. Kaidan and Liara were excellent biotics, and they were good with a pistol. They managed to take out all the terrorist without so much as grazing the civis with debris.

The only snag was that in order to keep the hostages docile, the terrorists had dosed them to the gills with drugs. After they killed all the terrorists, they didn't know what to do with the room full of tripping scientists who were so high, one of them thought she was a potted plant.

"We can't exactly leave them to their own devices." Liara said.

"We can't take them with us either." Kaidan said.

Shepard did not want to deal with the headache. "I'll have Dr. Chakwas take a quick look. The Alliance can deal with the rest. As long as they're not harming themselves, I'm fine with leaving them here. There's another potential hostage situation I need to deal with two relays away. We need to move fast."

The last assignment from Admiral Hackett took them all the way to the Kepler Verge. Unlike the previous assignment, the only thing between the squad and Corporal Toombs was his hired mercenaries. Shepard took Wrex and Ashley along to cause maximum mayhem.

Honestly, Shepard could not care less if Toombs killed the Cerberus scientist. This Dr. Wayne had it coming.

She told the Corporal exactly what she thought of the scientist after hearing what had prompted the attack. "Go ahead, shoot the bastard. After what he has done to you and your squad at Akuze? He should thank you that's all you're gonna do to him."

"Commander?!" Ashley was gobsmacked. "You can't just let him walk around shooting people in the head."

Shepard looked at the Gunnery Chief dead in the eyes and said flatly. "You would have done the same if you had been experimented on."

Ashley froze at the implication.

Dr. Wayne started screaming at Shepard. "You can't let him do this! This is against the law! You won't get away with murder!"

Shepard snorted. "Really? You're gonna pull 'the law' card now? You don't get to flaunt the law and then expect the law to protect your ass. Are you forgetting I'm a Spectre? I'm officially above the law. You are a member of a terrorist organization, I can execute you right here and no one will raise an eyebrow. Better yet, I can order Corporate Toombs to shoot you, starting from your kneecaps, and he won't get into any trouble for it."

"No! Please, don't do this. I will stand trial. I'll testify in court. I'll do anything. Please don't kill me." Dr. Wayne was reduced to a sobbing mess.

Shepard looked at Toombs. "Well, Corporal, what do you think?"

Toombs shook, squeezing his pistol tight in his hand. But then, he lowered his weapon. "No. Death is too easy. I want him to testify. The world needs to know what really happened to my squad. I can't let them get away pulling another Akuze again. Between revenge and justice, I choose justice."

"Well said." Shepard nodded approving at Toombs. She then turned around and punched Dr. Wayne in the jaw. The scientist crumbled on the ground in an unconscious heap.

Ashley gave her a bewildered look.

Shepard answered the wordless question. "I don't like him. And I don't want him to hear our conversation."

Ashley palmed her face. Wrex chuckled.

"Toombs," Shepard asked the Corporal, "how much do you want to take down Cerberus?"

The former Alliance marine stared at the Commander, and answered emphatically, "anything."

Shepard turned on her Omni-tool and sent out a file to Toombs. "Follow the instructions."

Toombs read the file on his Omni-tool. His eye grew steadily wider as he went down the list.

Shepard stuck out her hand. Toombs shook it with grateful tears in his eyes. "Welcome to Operation Heracles. We're gonna take down Cerberus. We are Ragnarock. Now go. You don't have time to waste."

"Thank you." Toombs said quietly before he left.

Shepard look at Wrex.

Wrex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll keep quiet. Seriously, how many times has it been, and you still have to ask?"

"It's only polite." Shepard shrugged.

Ashley couldn't quite help herself. "What is going on?"

Shepard grinned at Ashley. "I just recruited him, like how I recruited you. You're going to help me flush out Cerberus agents from inside the Alliance, Toombs is helping me do that from the outside. I sent him to Omega. Cerberus is into a lot of nasty stuff in the Terminus system. I want him to keep an eye on them for me."

She nudged Dr. Wayne on the ground with the tip of her boot and said, "this sack of human scum is going to be the stick that pokes the hornet's nest. Little weasel like him will try to cut a deal and drag as many people down with him as he can. We're going to sit tight and take note. Those who try the hardest to hush this up are most likely to be connected to Cerberus."

An answering grin stretched across Ashley's face. "I like how you operate, skipper."

"We're done here. Let's haul his ass back to the brig."

"Aye, aye."

Shepard changed her mind. "On second thought, it's easier if I just lift him with my biotic. Can you and Wrex pick through the bodies and gather up all the supplies? I will radio Joker to dock the Normandy outside."

x-x-x

The Normandy was two days away from the Citadel when Shepard received a short message from Barla Von on her personal email account.

 _Offer accepted. Exchange is scheduled at my place. See you in two days._

Shepard shook her head. Of course the Shadow Broker would know her personal email account. She had set up this particular account just to bait her watchers. She programed Widget to post in hobby forums and browse porn sites with accounts created with this email address. With all the breadcrumbs she intentionally left for people to find, her dossier must have been a riot to read. Who would suspect humanity's first Spectre was secretly into asari bondage porn, hanar swimsuit models, elcor action movies, beekeeping, and poetry? Excellent blackmail material right there.

What impressed her was that the nosy yahg could so accurately track the Normandy's movement. This ship was supposed to be a stealth vessel. Tracking it through conventional means was incredibly difficult. The Shadow Broker must have tapped into the Alliance's communication channel, like Cerberus had. She did contact the Alliance and requested for custody transfer for both Major Kyle and Dr. Wayne in the Citadel in two day's time. That was probably how the Shadow Broker pegged down her schedule.

In the corner of her eye, Shepard saw Widget change colour and pop out a search alert. One of the targets Shepard had been keeping a close watch for had yielded a promising result.

After her meeting with Barla Von in the Citadel, her next stop would be Virmire. This time, none of her crew would be left behind.

x-x-x

A/N: Who spotted the Starship Trooper quotes?


	9. I-09: Memories

Book I - Chapter 9: Memories

As soon as the squad entered the C-Sec Academy, Shepard's eyes were immediately drawn to a heavily armed asari loitering in the lobby. Smiling inwardly to herself, Shepard made sure to keep her expression blank when her gaze fell on the woman. Even without her foreknowledge, Tela Vasir was eye catching enough that anyone with some situational awareness would take notice. Something about this asari demanded attention, but Shepard could not put her finger on what.

A large part of her really fucking hated Vasir. The Shadow Broker had sent this asari Spectre as his private hitman to assassinate Liara in Nos Astra when Shepard was busy blowing up the Collector's base. Vasir would have damned near succeeded in her task if not for sheer dumb luck on Liara's side.

But Shepard would refrain from doing anything against Vasir, not when the asari was still useful to her. If she could look at Vasir with an objective eye and an open mind, Shepard really had no cause to dislike her. Vasir had not done anything to Liara yet. If everything went according to plan, Vasir could even become a valuable ally.

The Commander was not the only one to find Vasir intriguing. Both Liara and Wrex tensed upon seeing her.

Wrex grunted. "She smells dangerous. Like you."

"Shepard, be careful. That woman is a very powerful biotic. It is invisible to human eyes, but asaris can sense it - she is intentionally provoking you with her aura." Liara murmured out her warning softly.

Shepard acknowledged their warnings with a small nod. As a human, and without extensive training, she could not perceive biotic aura nearly as well as asaris could. Liara had mentioned to her before that Shepard not only had a very intense natural aura, she also had a habit of projecting her intention. She had since been working with Liara to better contain her biotics, but it was still very much a work in process.

Said asari sauntered closer to Shepard and studied her face with great interest. "Humanity's first Spectre, Commander Shepard. I've heard so much about you." Vasir purred seductively at Shepard and traced her cheek with a finger.

Shepard pulled away from Vasir's touch while fixing her gaze steadily on her. "Do I know you?"

"No, but you really should. Tela Vasir. I'm your colleague." Vasir's eyes swept over to Shepard's squadmates with a clear air of dismissal. "How quaint. Do you enjoy travelling with an entourage, Shepard? A krogan bodyguard and an asari escort. Interesting choice. Bit predictable, though."

Shepard narrowed her eyes at the woman's crude implications. "What do you want?" She asked bluntly.

Vasir gave a careless shrug. Shepard only just noticed the white Spectre logo painted on her right pauldron. "Nothing much. I only wish to see the Hero of Elysium in person." She invaded Shepard's personal space, leaning over to whisper in her ear at a volume that was loud enough for her squadmates to hear. "Poetry, Commander? No wonder you enjoy tying your lovers up first - so your audience can't run away while you recite haiku in bed...?"

 _The Shadow Broker gave her my dossier._ Shepard was very amused that her false trail was taken in by her watchers as real intel. It was even more hilarious that Vasir actually tried to use it to intimidate her.

Shepard made a show of frowning disapprovingly at Vasir. "I don't know where you got that information, but what I do in private is my own business. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to." She said in a frosty tone before walking away with her squad.

"See you again soon," Vasir said to Shepard with a wave.

On the way to the nearest rapid transit station, Liara's curiosity finally got to her. "I didn't know you like poetry. Or your other hobby." The maiden commented sulkily.

Wrex grinned wickedly. "You mean hog-tying people in bed while she fucks them? Why, has Shepard not done that with you? Taking it easy on the kid, eh, Shepard?"

Liara gave the old krogan a withering glare.

Shepard burst out laughing. "Don't believe anything she said. Vasir was just trying to get a rise out of me."

The look Liara gave her told Shepard she was not completely convinced.

Shepard scratched her chin, pretending to think hard. "Unless you want to give it a try? Where do you suppose I can buy quality silk ropes in the Citadel? I might have to venture out to Zakera Ward to find a specialty shop."

"T-that won't be necessary." Liara stammered.

"Let me know if you change your mind." Shepard paused for a second and added with a smirk, "I can always use my biotics to the same effect. Fun without the rope burn."

Liara wisely chose to remain quiet rather than continuing on with the losing side of the banter.

x-x-x

Shepard did end up in the Zakera Ward later that day, albeit for a completely unrelated reason.

Zakera Ward was slightly different from what she remembered, but it was mostly the same. Her favourite shops, like the Citadel Souvenir and the Dark Star Lounge, were still around. Though waking up on the washroom floor next to a turian taking a leak after one too many shot of ryncol was not a pleasant memory.

It was in the early days after Cerberus brought her back from the dead, barely a week after she met Liara in Nos Astra. Shepard was so shocked by the maiden's drastic change in personality and hurt by her cold rejection, she didn't know what to do with herself. It had been almost two years for Liara, but it was not even two weeks for her.

Under Miranda's unsympathetic watch, the resurrected Hero of Elysium proceeded to drink herself into a blind stupor in the Eternity Lounge, sobbing to a random asari bartender (Aethyta, not knowing she was _Liara's father_ at the time) about how Liara didn't love her anymore. Considering her cybernetic implants, she must have drank the whole bottle of ryncol in one go. The drinking continued until the day she woke up on the washroom floor in a purple puddle of her own vomit in the Dark Star Lounge a week later. Miranda put her foot down after that.

It was very pathetic, though kinda funny in hindsight. Miranda always gave her the same judgemental, reproachful look every time she caught her staring at Liara's picture while wallowing in self-pity, even when she was sober. The Cerberus operative was actually not at all concerned with her drinking, knowing her implants were more than enough to handle the poison. Rather, she was greatly annoyed by Shepard's apparent attachment to her asari ex who had apparently dumped her ass like a box of spoiled leftovers.

Of course, later it turned out Miranda was wrong. Liara hadn't dump her. But Shepard wouldn't know that until she met Liara again on Mars, after the Reaper invasion began. They only had one short month of happiness together right before Ilos. Death had separated them for two years, and another year was wasted over guilt and fear. When they reunited again on Mars, Shepard grabbed onto Liara for dear life with no hesitation and vowed to never let go.

Then London happened.

Shepard shook herself from the depressing thought. She couldn't allow the ghost of future past to haunt her everywhere she went. They were in a middle of an important task; she could reminiscent later on her own time.

" _Commander Shepard, enter the password and receive a free gift."_ A hooded asian woman in one of the many advertisement terminals in the Zakera Ward announced as the squad walked by.

Shepard turned her head to look at the holo-ad in puzzlement even as she continued down the street. _Advertising nowadays has gotten so personal, it's borderline an invasion of privacy._ She ignored it.

"The instruction I got was pretty vague. It just said that the contact will meet us in the Zakera Ward. It didn't specify where." She complained to Liara about the information she got from Barla Von in exchange of the data on Cerberus she compiled.

"Perhaps we should stop and ask for directions?" Liara suggested.

"Hrmph," Wrex countered. "Or, we can just keep walking. We'll find it eventually,".

Shepard humed. "Let me check the map." She pulled up her Omni-tool and slowly spun around on the spot. "Which way is north?"

" _Commander Shepard, we have the finest companions waiting for you. Perhaps something petite, smart, and Japanese would be to your style?"_ The woman in the holo-ad asked cheerfully.

"North?" Liara frowned. "We are on a space station. There is no north."

"You know what I mean. The side that's closest to the Presidium is the default. So that's north." Shepard explained.

Liara still did not get it. "Must be a human thing. It is very confusing, and impractical. We are in space. There is no up or down, let alone a north."

Wrex huffed. "What's the point of standing here? We're wasting time. Let's just keep walking."

The asian woman in the holo-ad raised her voice. " _Just enter your password for a fabulous prize package worth millions of credits."_

Shepard looked around, trying to think of a landmark that was most likely to be the rendezvous point. "Since we are meeting the contact, it must be at a place where people can sit down and talk. A cafe, or a restaurant, perhaps?"

"Shepard, there are thousands of shops in this Ward. It will take forever to find the right one." Liara said.

"Then we better hurry. Let's split up and look separately. That'll be three times as fast." Wrex said.

The woman in the holo-ad finally lost her patience. " _Okay, really? How many times can you walk by without stopping? I'm talking to you, dull stone."_

That finally got the Commander's attention. "Guys, I think this is it." Shepard pointed at the holo-ad.

Liara and Wrex both stared at the projection. "In hindsight, this is pretty obvious." Liara admitted.

" _Are you going to say the password or not?"_ The projection asked curtly.

"Um, 'silence is golden'." Shepard said.

" _Good to finally meet you, Commander Shepard. Kasumi Goto. I'm a fan."_

Shepard studied the fuzzy image of holo projection. The only identifiable mark on the asian woman was the decorative strip of black tattoo on her lower lip and chin. "Can't say the same for you, sorry. I don't know anything about you. I paid to get in contact with the best stealth and infiltration specialist for a job. I don't actually know who I'm getting."

" _I am a master thief. The best in the trade, not the most famous. I've worked hard to keep it that way, hence the cloak and dagger. If you want the best, you've come to the right person."_ Kasumi said.

Shepard crossed her arms. "I'll need to brief you in person, not to a holo-ad, and certainly not in public. We also need to discuss payment."

Kasumi smiled. " _I will be waiting in your cabin on the Normandy - safest place to talk. See you soon."_

Shepard gawked as the image flickered and changed to an advertisement for Tupari sports drink. "Did she just say she'll be in _my cabin_?" She asked dumbly.

"Yes she did." Liara said, equally perturbed.

"She did boast she is the best at stealth and infiltration. Think of it as a job interview. She can get on the Normandy, she is good enough for whatever job you're planning." Wrex said.

"That also means there is a security risk that I don't know about." Shepard muttered in dismay. "I'm not sure if I want to find her on board or not when we get back."

"If she is as good as she claims to be, you will be happy to have her help." Liara said.

Shepard agreed to the logic. "We'll find out soon enough. Let's get back to the ship."

An hour later, the Commander found Kasumi sitting at her table inside her cabin, drinking her secret stash of Kraken black spiced rum reserved for special occasion. To get in here, the thief would have had to bypass the decontamination process at the airlock, waltz through the bridge and CIC of the most advanced Alliance warship that was filled with marines, and hacked open her locked door. "Of course you found my stash." She grumbled.

Kasumi smiled at the Commander. "Kleptomaniac here. Can't help myself."

Shepard sat down at the table. "You are good. How did you get in?"

Kasumi raised a finger and wagged it in a scolding gesture. "A magician never reveals her tricks."

Shepard sighed.

"So this job you're hiring me to do, tell me more about it." Kasumi asked.

Shepard studied Kasumi's face with a thoughtful frown. "Before that, I want to know what kind of person I'm working with. Tell me about yourself."

Kasumi put the glass of black liquor down. "Me? I am an expert on sabotage, infiltration, extraction, property acquisition, and stealth. I go wherever I please and take whatever strikes my fancy. I'm a thief. What more do you want to know?"

"And I am a Spectre. I'm supposed to uphold the law. What made you agree to meet me in person? Aren't you worried this might be a trap?" Shepard pointed it out.

Kasumi giggled. "You're a funny one, Shepard. I told you I'm careful. I did my research before I told the Shadow Broker's agent I would meet you. Now, promise not to get mad, and I'll let you know how I got on the ship."

Shepard put her right hand over her heart. "I promise not to get mad."

Kasumi beamed and activated her cloak. The thief literally vanished from sight. "I have been following you around since your last visit to Eden Prime." Kasumi's disembodied voice said mischievously.

Shepard looked around intently, but all her senses were telling her she was alone when she knew Kasumi was right there. She changed the setting of her cybernetic eyes to see heat signature. Still, nothing registered. "You've been hiding on board the Normandy for over a month!" Shepard shook her head in disbelief.

"No, I would've been bored to death if I did! I only stayed for three days. I got off on Port Hanshan. Lots of rich folks stranded in a small port? Now that was my kind of vacation. Anoleis had some choice items in his personal vault." Kasumi's voice was now behind her.

Shepard sputtered and whipped around. If Kasumi had not spoken, she would've never noticed the thief had moved.

Kasumi deactivated her cloak and sat back down. "I didn't stay longer because I've learnt all I needed to know about you on Eden Prime. Godslayers, Shepard. Only you could whip a motley crew into a frenzy doing the hero's job. You're not hiring a contractor. This is a recruitment drive. If I'm in, I'm in for life. Or until the Reapers are gone. Am I right, Shep?"

"At least tell me you were not hiding in here when I was with Liara." Shepard groaned with a hand over her eyes while racking her brain to recall what embarrassingly private stuff the thief could have possibly witnessed without her noticing.

Kasumi looked offended. "I'm a thief and a stalker, but I'm not a pervert. Not that you two aren't attractive, I just prefer men."

"Good to know." Shepard said drily. "This saves me time. Since you were at that meeting, you've heard my sales pitch. You know why I'm doing this."

"Yes, of course. To ensure the continuous existence of all advanced organic life. And I also know, whatever you need me to do must be really important for the upcoming war effort. You know the Shadow Broker is keeping tab on you, yet you still went to the Broker's agent to commission my help." Kasumi tilted her head and asked, "why?"

Shepard smiled. "Astute question. The answer is simple - false information. Did you know what I paid to the Shadow Broker to get in contact with you? Intel on Cerberus. Combine that with my service record, the logical conclusion the Shadow Broker is going to draw is that I need a professional entry man to help me break into Cerberus facilities to bust open their illegal operations. These two factions are not exactly bitter enemies, but they don't get along. The Shadow Broker would most likely be blinded by his own prejudice and therefore never suspect what I really need you for."

Kasumi leaned forward with great interest. "Which is?"

The smile on Shepard's face widen into a conspiratorial grin. "The biggest heist of the century."

Kasumi waited, but that was all Shepard said. "Oh, come on, you can't just stop there! Give me details."

Shepard sat back into her chair and folded her hands together, smirking at the frustrated thief. "We haven't discuss payment yet. What is it that you want from me that would guarantee your loyalty? I have a feeling credit is not the answer for a master thief such as you."

Kasumi crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine. There is only one thing in this world that you can use to buy my loyalty. You help me get it, I'll even go on a suicide mission for you. Do you know what a graybox is?"

"'Fraid not. Never heard of it."

Kasumi tapped the side of her head, and a goggle shaped VI interface appeared over her eyes. "It's a neural implant. Illegal in most places. Stores memories, thoughts… secret codes, illicit information. This one in particular belonged to my partner, Keiji Okuda. We worked together for a long time, before Donovan Hock ripped his graybox out of his head and killed him. I want it back."

"Donovan Hock. I've heard this name before." Shepard said, trying to recall exactly where she had heard of it.

"Mr. Hock is a well respected _businessman_. Arms dealer, murderer, self-proclaimed patron of the arts, generally not a great guy. His mansion on Bekenstein is a fortress. I suspect Keiji's graybox is inside, but I haven't found a way in yet." Kasumi said.

"Do you know what's inside the graybox? It has to be something worth killing for." Shepard asked.

Kasumi shook her head sadly. "No, I don't. Keiji's last job was with the Alliance Intelligence Agency. Whatever he saw, it scared him so much he was determined to keep me in the dark to protect me. All he would say was that if this information gets out, it would do a lot of damage to the Alliance's reputation, maybe even start a war with the batarians."

 _Alliance black op. Batarians. Donovan Hock._ With a jolt, Shepard suddenly remembered where she had heard of the name. During the Reaper War, Shepard was asked by a salarian Spectre Jondum Bau to help investigate a possible security leak in the embassy. She found a indoctrinated hanar diplomat, Zymandis, who was attempting to upload a virus to cripple the automated planetary defense systems protecting the hanar homeworld. The harnar was indoctrinated years ago when he participated in a botched illegal Alliance raid on a batarian science lab studying Reaper tech.

Jondum Bau had bought the information off of Donovan Hock. Hock must have gotten this from Keiji's graybox.

At the end, Sheppard had had to choose between saving the lives of millions on Kahje or the life of one man - a fellow Spectre, a respected colleague, a good man who believed in her.

Jondum Bau's blood was on her hands.

"Deal. After I conclude my business with Saren, I'll help you get Keiji's graybox back. Hopefully before Hock cracks open the encryption and gets his grubby hands on the blackmail material." Shepard extended her hand towards Kasumi.

Kasumi shook it firmly. "Then it's a promise. I'll let you know when I find a way into Hock's mansion. Now will you tell me what the biggest heist of the century is?"

"So impatient." Shepard grinned. "You're going to help me steal the entire Shadow Broker Network. I call it: Operation Cuckoo."

Kasumi stared at Shepard.

Shepard shrugged casually. "Go big or go home, right? It won't make you famous, but it'll prove you're the best. Interested?"

x-x-x

The Council summon came when Shepard was at the C-Sec Requisition Office, arranging for deliveries for the new equipment she bought. Perhaps it was a matter of timing, but the Council had decided to call Shepard in and talk to the Commander in person instead of giving her the order through the comm link.

The chamber was relatively quiet when the squad arrived. There were a few paper pushers milling about as per usual, but otherwise the enormous space was mostly empty. As Shepard waited for the Councillors to come out to begin the briefing, she noticed she was being watched by someone on the second floor balcony.

Vasir.

Shepard gave the asari a polite nod, and received a playful wave in return. Some part of her idly wondered what kind of insults the woman would hurl at her squadmates this time if given half the chance. Nothing creative, most likely.

"Do you know her?" Tali asked.

"Yeah. She's a Spectre." Shepard said.

Garrus added, "Tela Vasir is a very good Spectre. She has been one for over two hundred years. Executor Pallin hates her guts."

"I wonder why." Shepard drawled.

The three Councillors filed out of their offices and stood in the middle of the chamber to address Shepard.

Tevos began. "Commander Shepard, we've received information that may be critical for your mission against Saren."

"I'll take all the help I can get." Shepard said.

Valern continued. "An urgent message came from one of our infiltration regiments in the Traverse. We currently have several infiltration units scattered throughout the border region of the Citadel space. This particular unit was gathering intel on Saren."

"What did they find?"

Valern shook his head. "Unfortunately, the message we received was little more than static. The infiltration team must be in a situation where they cannot set up a proper interstellar communication. But, the message was sent on a channel reserved for mission critical communications. Whatever they were trying to tell us, we know it was important. Considering your interest in Saren, we thought you might want to investigate this. Find out what happened to our team. The signal originated from the planet Virmire."

Shepard frowned intently at Valern. "May I ask why the Council would send me to investigate, rather than sending in reinforcements for the unit's immediate extraction?"

Tevos, the most diplomatic of the three Councillor, answered the question for Valern. "The political situation in the Traverse is delicate. The Council prefers to be better informed of the situation on Virmire before we risk starting a conflict in the region by sending in our fleet."

"I respectfully disagree." Shepard said bluntly. Her retort caused an unnaturally silence in the entire chamber. The only sounds she could hear after her comment was that of a few onlookers gasping in disbelief.

"You… disagree?" Sparatus asked slowly. "Then please, impart your wisdom to the Council as to why you disagree?"

Shepard stared them unflinchingly in the eyes, her voice steady and calm. "This unit was investigating Saren's base. They must have encountered overwhelming geth opposition - it would explain the static message on the mission critical channel. It is my professional opinion that the best course of action is to immediately send in the Citadel fleet to destroy the geth fleet orbiting Virmire, send in a platoon of frontline soldiers to sweep the base, disable all ground-to-air fortifications, and then extract the unit. Any delay will result in more lives, as well as critical information lost."

"The Council does not make it a habit to mobilize its fleet over a mere conjecture. If you think this mission is too much for you, we understand. You are new. We can find other more capable, more experienced agents who are willing to do their job." Sparatus's voice took on a gleeful edge.

"There is no need. I accept the mission. I always do my duty. As it is also my duty to point out when the Council is making a terrible mistake." Shepard was able to speak dispassionately, but her eyes were cold as ice.

Ever the peacemaker, Tevos cut in before Sparatus could say anything he might regret later. "The Council appreciates your concerns. However, as we stand, we are of the consensus that further investigation is required. We prefer not to become involved in the specifics of Spectre activities, but we trust you will do whatever that's necessary to complete your mission. Good luck, Commander Shepard, we'll keep you advised if we learn anything else."

Shepard knew a dismissal when she heard it. She gave the Council a curt nod and marched away. In the corner of her eyes, she saw Vasir studying her intently. There was no trace of a smile on the asari's face.

It stung when Plan A didn't work, even though Shepard already anticipated a 95% failure rate before she went with it. The Council was predictably resistant to anything she had to say, even when she was making perfectly reasonable suggestions. So she gritted her teeth and moved on to Plan B without delay.

As soon as she stepped out of the Council Chamber, she stopped at the courtyard and fired off several urgent messages to start the ball rolling.

Garrus looked as upset and frustrated as Shepard herself felt. "The Council has lost their senses. I expected more of Sparatus. He's a turian, he went through mandatory military training. What compelled him to disregard sound strategic advice?"

"Their heads are so far up their asses, they are lost in there. Why else would they think a potential for conflict is a bigger issue than an ongoing conflict with the geth all over the Traverse?" Tali threw up her hands in disgust.

Shepard snorted. "The Council has been trying to downplay Saren's treason. Have you noticed? Check the news. You won't see Saren's name anywhere."

"I remember this. We were in Port Hanshan. The Administrator's secretary didn't know Saren was stripped of his Spectre status." Garrus shook his head. "The Council is trying to sweep the whole thing under the rug. They are protecting Saren."

"Hardly. They are protecting their own pristine political image. They don't care about Saren. He is merely a Spectre, as am I. We are the Council's left hand. The same one they use to wipe their asses. As long as I clean up after their mess, they don't care how I get it done. Saren will get his comeuppance. I promise you that." Shepard said to the former C-Sec.

To cool her head after the meeting, Shepard intentionally took the long route back to C-Sec Academy instead of using the rapid transport. As she expected, when the squad exited the elevator back to the docking bay thirty minutes later, she found Vasir already waiting for her on the gangway leading to the Normandy.

"Vasir." Shepard greeted, watching Vasir's body language carefully.

"Shepard." Vasir studied her with an equal amount of caution.

Shepard crossed her arms. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

With a smirk, Vasir turned on her Omni-tool and forwarded a message to her.

It only took the Commander a minute to verify the content of the message. Cheering inwardly to herself, Shepard faked a convincing look of bewilderment mixed with concern. "I see. Very well. I have one rule: I am the one in command. Will that be an issue?"

Vasir shook her head slowly. "No, not at all."

"Good. Then we won't have any problem." Shepard said, and took a moment to eye the senior Spectre wearily. "With a friend like _that_ , no wonder you are so well informed."

Vasir grinned predatorily at the Commander. "If you have been in the business for as long as I have, Shepard, you would have made a few friends yourself."

"Sadly, that would be an impossible fantasy for me. Short-lived species here. Give me another forty years, and I'll be too infirm to hold a pistol steady with one hand." Shepard said.

To Shepard's surprise, her comment seemed to have invoked a genuine look of regret on Vasir's face. "That _is_ unfortunate." The asari Spectre paused for a moment and added, "seeing you in action is more fun than reading your file. You are _entertaining._ To antagonize the Council on purpose… Ha. Some people would call you brave, but some would argue you're incredibly stupid. I haven't made up my mind which camp I'm in yet. Soon you will learn to play the game, Shepard. You will drown if you don't learn how to navigate these waters. Try to be a little subtler than a krogan headbutt next time."

"Thanks for the advice." Shepard said sardonically. "It might not be in my best interest to contradict the Council, but I did it because it was in the galaxy's best interest for them to listen. They are politicians, not generals. War is coming, Vasir. They can't negotiate their way out of this one."

"Ah, these 'Reapers' you have been talking about," Vasir said, with the infuriating air quotes Shepard hated so much, "I've read your reports. Are you aware you have a flare for the dramatic? Extinction this, annihilation that. You sounded like an angsty maiden embroiled in a particularly unsettling poetry phase. Considering your species' short lifespan, perhaps you haven't outgrown it yet."

Shepard gave Vasir an unimpressed glare. "Aren't asaris supposed to be wise and diplomatic? I do hope you will refrain from insulting my crew for the next ten days. You will be trapped inside a very small ship, sharing accommodations with thirty crew members, most of them being short-lived and _short-tempered_ aliens. The only other person on the entire ship who might not be a youngling in your eyes is a old krogan battlemaster who killed a thresher maw on foot during his Rite of Passage."

Vasir rolled her eyes. "Fine. Enough talk. Just show me where my quarters are."

"Right. Follow me." Shepard said with a sigh.

x-x-x

When the Normandy finally left the Citadel for Virmire, the crew found themselves with more passengers on board than expected.

"Two Spectres. Man, this mission must be really important for the Council to assign two Spectres on it." Kaidan said to Joker.

Joker scowled while shifting in his pilot's seat with agitation. "I don't like it. This is bullshit. They are treating the Commander like she is a cadet who needs her hand held. I tell you, this is all because she is human. If the Commander were a turian or an asari, the Council would be patting her on the back for what an awesome job she has done instead of siccing a babysitter on her."

"Vasir may be the Commander's senior, but she is not her superior. They are equal in rank." Kaidan said.

"You can dress it up however you want, but the fact is, Vasir is here to babysit." Joker scoffed.

Kaidan sighed. "Yeah, she is. This is not fair. The Commander deserves better."

Shepard spoke up from behind the duo. "I appreciate how you two are indignant on my behalf, but please keep your personal opinions to yourselves. We have a guest on board."

Both men winced.

Shepard gave them a lopsided smile. "For the record, the Council did not send Vasir to watch me. Vasir is here on her own agenda. I am giving her a lift on the Normandy as a common courtesy to a fellow Spectre. Don't read too much into it."

Vasir was here because Shepard messaged Barla Von that the Council was sending her to Virmire to investigate Saren's secret base. Fifteen minutes after that message was sent out, Barla Von sent a reply that the Shadow Broker would consider it a personal favour if Shepard would take Vasir along to the Virmire mission.

Shepard had used the Shadow Broker's grudge against Saren to manipulate the yahg into giving her the help she needed, free of charge.

"Yes, ma'am." Joker said, but his eyes disagreed.

Shepard turned to the Staff Lieutenant. "Make sure everyone is on the same page. Don't let them say the Alliance makes a poor host."

"Understood, ma'am." Kaidan saluted.

"As you were."

Having spoken with Joker, the one with the loosest lips on the Normandy, Shepard made her way down to the cargo bay to speak with Ashley, the one with the quickest temper.

From the looks of it, Shepard had caught the Gunnery Chief just in time before she had the chance to go off. Ashley was at her usual station, maintaining rifles with a mutinous scowl on her face.

"Hey." Shepard greeted. "You alright there?"

Ashley looked at Shepard and put her tools down. "Just peachy. Nevermind me, what about you, skipper? I can't believe they did this to you."

"I get the feeling you have something you want to tell me." Shepard commented drily. "You have my permission to speak freely, Williams. Just keep the voice down."

Ashley took a deep breath to control her anger. "This is supposed to be your mission. That means you take the lead, you call the shots. The Council has no right to drop another Spectre on you like you're incompetent."

"Just so we are clear, the Council did not order Vasir to supervise me. She is here to assist me on the Virmire mission. I'm still the one in charge. Vasir was perfectly clear with this when I allowed her on board. Besides, we are not the only ones the Council sent out to counter Saren. There is an entire infiltration regiment on Virmire right now, investigating Saren's base. Vasir is not here to usurp my position. Even if she tries to, I doubt anyone on this ship would let her." Shepard explained patiently.

That explanation gave Ashley pause. "The Council didn't send her?"

Shepard shook her head. "No."

A longer pause. Shepard could almost see the gears turning inside Ashley's head. "The Council didn't send her, but she is here. That means you want her here."

Shepard smiled and nodded. "Yes."

Ashley frowned in concentration as she put the puzzle pieces together. "You want another Spectre to come with you to Virmire, where there is already an entire STG unit in position… Oh Lord. You think this is going to be bad." She stared at Shepard with trepidation.

"Yes." Shepard.

"Why would you think that?" Ashley asked.

"Why indeed." Shepard sighed.

When she lost Kaidan on Virmire last time, Shepard had beaten herself up, hashing and rehashing everything in her mind, thinking of all the things she could have done differently to save him. She couldn't. There was nothing she could have done. It was either Ashley or Kaidan. One of them had to die so everyone else could live.

Not satisfied with the conclusion she came to, her mind naturally moved on to a different place. It was not the mission itself that was botched. No, she had done everything right. The haphazard pre-mission preparation was the true culprit. In hindsight, Shepard could see those clues as neon signs in the dark.

First of all, the target. It was _Saren's_ secret base, of course they should have expected heavy geth opposition. On top of that, Saren was a paranoid bastard who had been plotting for the Reaper's return for years. His secret base would have been fortified with everything he could think of. These two reasons combined should have more than warranted sending in a fleet. It made no sense to allow geth to run around unchecked, no sense to risk the synthetics setting up another foothold in the region. No matter how delicate the political situation in the Traverse might have been, even the most hardcore separatists would agree that allowing geth in their backyard was a very bad idea.

Secondly, the message from the infiltration regiment. STG specialized in stealth, infiltration, and espionage. They were not straight up front line fighters. When they sent out a message on an mission critical channel, that meant their supposedly covert operation was blown wide open. The least they would need was immediate extraction, which would require heavy air-to-ground fire support from at least one cruiser to counter the anti-air fortifications installed in the base. This was not a job for a reconnaissance stealth frigate.

Furthermore, STG operatives were the quintessence black op special force. They were brutally efficient and damned good at what they do. When they asked for help, that meant they really fucking needed _a lot_ of help an hour ago. Especially when the unit was in such a tight spot, they could not set up a proper interstellar communication channel. The Council should have never brushed them off so callously. She really tried, but they just wouldn't listen. They never did until it was too late.

In Shepard's mind, Saren was to blame for all the lives lost before Captain Kirrahe's distress call. All the lives lost after that was on the Council's head.

Except Kaidan. She had chosen to sacrifice Kaidan. That was her own fault.

"The Council is sending me on a job that an entire infiltration regiment could not do. What does that tell you?" Shepard asked.

Ashley's face scrunched up in disgust. "It's definitely gonna be bad."

Shepard sniggered. "How did you come up with that conclusion? Maybe they have faith that I'm just really-freaking-awesomely good."

Ashley snorted loudly. "Right. Faith. They wouldn't believe anything coming out of a human's mouth. Even if the human is a Spectre."

"So maybe they will take the words of an asari Spectre." Shepard pointed out.

Ashley blinked. "Oh."

Shepard patted Ashley on the arm. "You don't have to like her, but try to get along. We're on the same side here. At this point, we can't afford to turn away help. My pride is nowhere near as important as my crew's lives. Got it?"

"Understood, ma'am. I apologize for my attitude, ma'am."

"Don't sweat it, Chief."

Shepard was going to use the Council's own words as her defense. They told her that they didn't care how their Spectres did their job, as long as it was done. Having said that, they could hardly reprimand her for asking a fellow Spectre for assistance. The Council might get away with dismissing anything Shepard said because humanity did not have the political clout to object to this unfair treatment, but they could not afford to dismiss Tela Vasir, a senior asari Spectre who had been doing this job longer than the three Councillors' career combined.

From what she knew of Vasir, this asari was a woman who would not hesitate to sacrifice innocent lives for the greater good. A lot could go wrong on Virmire. Shepard hoped she had made the right decision enlisting Vasir's help.

x-x-x

Liara had been glaring frostily at Vasir as soon as she saw the older woman on board the Normandy. Much to Shepard's relief, Liara did not object at all when asked to relocate to the Captain's cabin. If anything, the maiden looked strangely... appeased, and not at all bothered that the med bay office was now Vasir's domain.

Maybe it was the aura thing again, as soon as Shepard took off her hardsuit, Vasir began to show a _lot_ more interest in her _that way_. Shepard was not completely oblivious. One good thing out of this was that the close proximity of a potential rival got the shy maiden into territorial mode. Normally, Liara would maintain a professional front and refrain from showing physical displays of affection while there were people around. With Vasir's undisguised ogling (staring at her ass while licking her lips, to be specific), Liara could not control her impulse to keep from touching Shepard whenever she could. It was a side of Liara Shepard had never seen before.

Shepard hadn't had the "asari gaze" problem last time. She blamed the Crucible for screwing with her biotics.

When the Crucible rendered her down to pure energy, Shepard was a very different person than when she encountered the first beacon on Eden Prime three years earlier. When the thirty-two year old self was downloaded into her twenty-nine year young body, the beacon must have tried to take the two separate entities and squish them into one new being instead of doing a simple software update.

Case in point, all of her new cybernetic implants from her thirty-two year old body were still there, while all the skills she had lost when she died the first time came back. It was like flipping a switch. Shepard still remembered how frustrated she had felt when she couldn't perform a simple biotic throw after she came back from the dead. Now, it was as if the skill was never gone. Essentially, Shepard had regained all her younger body's skills while keeping all the new skills her older body had learnt later in life.

In other words, Shepard could chain attacks together and cause a biotic explosion if she got the timing right. This was supposed to be a new technique developed by asari commandos in the beginning of the Reaper invasion, similar to how the Alliance had developed a new way to utilize the Omni-blade function to combat multiple Husks at the same time.

Maybe Shepard should count herself lucky that the "re-play" option had not resulted in two of her. That would have been awkward. For one thing, she wasn't sure she could share Liara, not even with her younger self.

Speaking of sharing, Shepard was treated with the novel experience of feeling the strong sense of possessiveness and jealousy coming from Liara's end of the meld later that night. She liked it so much, it drove her into a frenzy.

"I want you here forever." Shepard panted, grabbing Liara's rear with both hands while rolling her hips firmly between blue thighs.

Liara moaned against Shepard's jaw, her eyes a solid obsidian black. Biotics shrouded them as their consciousness mingled, as their bodies intertwined in a rapturous whole.

 _I'm yours, Li._

Liara arced back with a choked scream when she briefly grazed the edge of a building orgasm.

 _You are mine, as I am yours, Jane._

Shepard's lips latched onto the junction between Liara's elegant neck and her shoulder. With an approving hum, she pulled on the delicate flesh with her teeth. The sting made Liara claw at her back and leave yet another set of crisscrossing scratch marks. Shepard's rhythm was deliberately slow. They had been hovering on the edge for quite a while.

 _Yes! Now make me come before I lose my mind._

Liara's demand ripped a growl from Shepard's throat. She let go of Liara's neck and angled herself up to gain better leverage. The slow roll sped up to a fast trot. When they finally crested together, their bodies froze for what seemed like forever. Drunk in the haze of electrifying pleasure, Shepard forced her eyes to stay open through her own release to watch Liara spend underneath her. Her lover thrashed on top of the crisp white sheets wildly, her face contorted in unrestrained ecstasy. This sight alone brought a series of aftershocks rippling through her core.

Shepard felt Liara comb through her sweat slicked hair with her fingers. She didn't remember when her arms gave out, and frankly she didn't care. Lying on top of Liara after sex had blissfully emptied her mind.

"Feeling better now?" Shepard asked, her voice low and husky.

Liara nodded, looking mightily pleased with herself. "Much better." She purred.

"Am I crushing you?"

Liara stopped her from shifting her weight off. "No. I want you here." She rocked her hips languidly against Shepard to make her point.

Shepard grinned lazily at the possessive gesture. Inhaling Liara's comfortingly sweet scent, she closed her eyes and agreed, "I don't want to be anywhere else, either." Just as she was on the cusp of falling asleep, she felt something prickle at the edge of her senses. Her eyes snapped open; she was all of a sudden wide awake. "I promise not to get mad. Decloak, now."

"I'm sorry!" Kasumi reappeared in thin air. "You two started taking off clothes before I got the chance to leave. I swear to God I'm not a pervert!"

Liara bolted up from the bed in shock, holding the thin blanket protectively over her breasts in a vain attempt to preserve her modesty. "What?!" The deep purple blush on her cheeks was a combination of embarrassment and outrage.

Shepard sat up and pinched the bridge of her nose to stave off an oncoming headache. She let Liara hog all the blankets, not bothered with covering herself at this point. "What did I tell you, Kasumi? My cabin is off limit when Liara is here."

"I said I was sorry. I was hiding from the krogan and the other asari. It wasn't a problem before when it was just the krogan. He rarely came up to the crew deck. The asari walks around like she owns the place. Her senses are _sharp_. I have to be extra careful." Kasumi said with her hands up.

The Commander let out a long, suffering sigh. "Fine. You can hide in here. Just… give us a heads up next time so we can avoid this awkward situation."

Kasumi put her palms together in gratitude. "Thank you for your understanding. I'm going to turn around and sit in the corner now. You can go back to sleep."

"Sleep would be a tall order after this." Liara said stiffly.

"It's best if you pretend she's not here." Shepard said and fell back in bed.

"Maybe we should put on clothes."

Shepard snorted. "What _hasn't_ she seen? Pretend you're on a nude beach if it'll make you feel better."

Liara paused for a moment and lay back down to snuggle with Shepard. "Nude beach? Why do you need to specify that it's nude?"

Shepard gave Liara a weird look. "Um, you're supposed to wear a swimsuit at the beach, unless it's a nude beach."

"Oh, I see. For asari, wearing swimsuit is a fashion statement. Every asari beach resort is cloth optional."

A goofy grin made its way up to the Commander's face as the mental image of an entire beach full of naked asaris, all stretched out under the sun, water dripping down their skin… "Niiice. We should visit one sometimes. You can rub sunblock on my back. It'll be great. Do asaris need sunblock?"

"No, we don't. But you can put massage oil on me. Actually, there is a very nice beach not too far from my family home on Thessia. I haven't visited since… since I ran away from Benezia."

Shepard inwardly winced. The last time she went to Thessia with Liara was at the height of the Reaper invasion. Her first and only memory of Thessia was forever sealed with blood, fire, twisted flesh, and the stink of death.

She never wanted to see another Banshee again.

"We'll visit Thessia together." Shepard promised. She held Liara close and dropped a kiss on her crest. "You can show me where you grew up. I want to see your baby pictures. You can take me to all the cheesy tourist traps. The temple, the beach, maybe even a night out to a concert. It'll be great."

Liara looked up at Shepard with a glowing smile. "We can visit Earth together, too. I would very much like you to show me human's homeworld."

Shepard agreed readily. "We should visit Vancouver. My parents were born there, so I'm technically a Canadian. We have the best beer..."

 _London. Bullets flying from all sides. Brutes prowling the desolate streets. The foul stench of burnt flesh and rotting corpses. The screams. Harbinger. Death._

 _Liara. Dead._

Shepard abruptly stopped talking and held Liara in a desperate, bruising hug. The flashback was so unexpectedly, it completely disoriented her.

"Jane?" Liara's muffled voice called out in concern.

Shepard hesitantly loosened her grip and gave Liara a tremulous smile that could be called a grimace. "Sorry, um, maybe not Earth. I didn't grow up there anyway. Too many people. You wouldn't like it."

The crease between Liara's brows deepened.

Shepard didn't let Liara inquire further. "I'm tired. We should sleep. Goodnight." She said, and hastily shut her eyes.

x-x-x

Shepard was having a nightmare.

Liara had not really gotten used to sleeping in the same bed with another person, so when Shepard moved around too much in bed, she woke up right away. Under the dim light, Liara could see Shepard's eyes flittering rapidly behind closed eyelids. Curiosity and concern overtook her. After a moment of consideration, Liara tenuous reached out a thin strand of her consciousness towards Shepard's mind.

The landscape of Shepard's dream world was very different from her conscious mind. The edges were frayed and wispy, everything look slightly distorted. Even emotions and sensations took on an ethereal quality. Some were dulled, but others were intensified to an unnatural degree.

Through the thin meld, Liara found herself inside Shepard's body, looking through her eyes. By taking on the role as a passive observer, Liara could experience what Shepard felt without exerting influence.

 _Dream Liara was crawling on all fours, trying to get back on her feet. Shepard/Liara ran towards her. Her lungs burned, her heartbeats thundered in her ears. Crippling fear weighted her limbs down. Shepard/Liara realized she would never make it._

 _Please please please let me make it in time._

 _Dream Liara extended a hand, groping blindly to reach her. Shepard/Liara was too late. A red energy beam ripped through everything in its path. The explosion knocked her on her back._

 _No no no no nonono… Not Liara!_

 _Dream Liara was consumed by fire and smoke. All that was left was dust in the wind._

 _Let me die._

 _The world spun. Liara was crawling on all fours, trying to get up again. She tried to run, but her body was heavy. It was hopeless. Nothing she did made any difference._

 _Please please please let me make it this time._

 _Liara extended a hand, groping blindly to reach her. Why couldn't she save her? Again, the red energy beam ripped through everything in its path. The explosion knocked her on her back._

 _No no no no nonono… Not Liara! Please, no! Not Liara! Not again!_

 _Death. Fire and smoke. All was dust._

 _Let me die._

 _Let me die._

 _Let me die._

 _I'm so tired. Please let me die._

"Wake up!" Liara roughly shook the woman awake.

"Huh? What?" Shepard woke with a jerk. She looked up at Liara with an expression so helpless and vulnerable, it stung her eyes.

Liara pulled Shepard into a hug. "You were having a nightmare." She explained quietly.

"Oh." Shepard sounded embarrassed. "Was I? Sorry. Didn't mean to disturb your sleep. That's really weird. I don't even remember what I was dreaming about."

"Maybe it's better that way. Go back to sleep." Liara coaxed.

"Ok." Shepard agreed with a yawn. As soon as her head hit the pillow again, she was out like a light.

Liara did not get a wink of sleep for the rest of the night.

x-x-x

A/N: I was told that the sex scene was too graphic for this fic to stay T. Next up, Virmire. It's a complicated mission so I'll need more time to write.


	10. I-10: Virmire - Part 1

Book I - Chapter 10: Virmire - Part 1

It took the Normandy four days to reach the Hoc system and Shepard spent those four days sitting on pins and needles, agonizing over every little detail, imagining everything that could go wrong in the upcoming Virmire mission.

Fortunately for the Commander, Liara would not allow her to stew on her own. Every time Shepard found herself sick with worry running worse case scenarios non-stop in her head, Liara would magically appear by her side to pull her out of it. The young asari maiden was very good at distracting her; she could do it with a simple touch, or with a mere look. Shepard had no idea when Liara had became so attuned to her mood, but she was very glad her lover's attentiveness.

Once the Normandy was within range of their destination, Shepard ordered Joker to engage the stealth system as soon as the ship dropped out of FTL speed. Quiet as a ghost, the frigate glided into the planet's orbit and began scanning the surface to locate the missing STG unit. Suffice to say, they found a lot more than they bargained for.

Vasir was already fully armed and armored when Shepard came up to the bridge from the crew deck. The asari Spectre was visibly upset by the results of the Normandy's scans. "Intel is all wrong. Virmire is supposed to be a virgin world unsettled by anyone. Look at this base, look at all these defenses. This is a fortress! It must have taken _years_ to construct them all. How could Saren afford _any_ of this?"

"There's your answer." Shepard pointed at one of the monitors on the workstation specifically calibrated to detect synthetics. "It's crawling with geth. Free labour. I'm actually more impressed that Saren was able to keep this operation a secret for so long."

Joker spoke up. "Commander, we have company. Several geth dropships are in orbit."

Vasir tensed. "We should call for backup."

"Not so fast. The Normandy is in stealth mode. We don't show up on their sensors; they are blind to us. The only way for them see us is to look out of a window, and Geth dropships don't have windows; I've seen enough of them up close to know that for a fact." Shepard said to Vasir.

Joker added, "as long as we don't all start singing the Russian national anthem, they won't spot us."

That comment earned her an unamused blank look from Vasir, though Shepard grinned at her pilot's cheek.

"Found them, Commander." Kaidan looked up from his monitor. "Organics outside the facility. Looks like they've set up a base camp on the beach. It barely made a blip on our sensor. Bit of a problem though. There are AA towers all over the place. The Normandy won't be able to make a landing."

"Where is heavy cruiser air support when you need it? Right, the Council wouldn't give it. They wanted to make nice with slavers and drug lords in this region instead. Stability, my ass." Shepard commented wearily. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed Vasir's thunderous expression, and inwardly smiled to herself.

 _Good. Be appalled by the Council's inaction, be angered by their refusal to listen. I want you ready to bite their heads off once you're back._

"Alenko, keep your eyes peeled on those sensors. Look for anomalies. Saren has this place wrapped up tighter than his grandmother's couch for a reason. I want to know what he is hiding inside. Get the whole team on it. Pressly, look for a quiet place to drop the Mako. We'll slip in and take out the AA towers."

"Aye, aye, ma'am." Kaidan and Pressly saluted and went about their work.

Shepard turned to Vasir. "I assume you want to tag along?"

"You assume correctly. I wish to see for myself."

"Have you engaged geth recently?" Shepard asked, and got a quick shake of head as her answer. "At a distance, they are not that big a threat. As long as you dodge their attacks, you'll be fine. I'm trained as a vanguard; I can disable them with my biotics at mid-range. Don't let them get close to you. A geth destroyer at close range can do significant damage to your shield. Be very careful when you're on the ground. I expect to see a lot of geth drones. Those flyers are immune to most crowd control biotic attacks, and they can pack a lot of damage. I will bring my best engineer to support us for this mission."

Vasir regarded the Commander with an odd look of respect. "You have fought a lot of geth, haven't you?"

"Since Eden Prime, yes. Why do you have to ask? I thought you've read my file."

"I have, but obviously I didn't read every report you've ever submitted. Just the summary, and the major reports." Vasir said.

Shepard nodded in understanding. "Yeah, we found a lot of geth in the Armstrong Nebula. So far, every time we investigated a place Saren was interested in, we found an army of geth in our way. Eden Prime, Feros, Noveria, and now Virmire."

Vasir's left eye twitched in annoyance. Shepard only noticed because she was keeping a very close eye on the asari's reactions. She wondered if her colleague was more annoyed at Saren or at the Council. "Now that I've seen the situation, I find myself agreeing with your earlier recommendation to the Council. They should have sent in the Citadel fleet, even if the geth were our only problem."

The Commander smiled. It felt good to have a fellow Spectre agree with her, even though that person was Vasir.

"Commander, we've found something else in orbit. You need to see this!" Kaidan spoke up urgently and pulled up an image on his monitor.

"What kind of geth ship is this? Look at the size of it." Vasir frowned at the real time vid feed.

Shepard clench her jaw. "This is no geth. This is the Reaper dreadnought, Sovereign. Saren has been using it's unique tech to enslave others. So this is where it's been hiding." She pulled up the image from Eden Prime from her Omni-tool and placed it next to the monitor for comparison. It was clear that the two were the same ship. "Sovereign was on Eden Prime. I didn't see it land, but I saw it take off. I was there. A dreadnought of this size, and it just rocketed off the planet. Can you imagine the size of it's eezo core in order to generate a mass effect field large enough to do that? When it fires its weapon, it's going to knock any ship out of the sky in one shot."

Vasir looked completely loss for words.

Frowning in dismay, Shepard continued. "If the Council had listened to me and sent in a fleet in the first place, it would have been a few cruisers, tops. No way it would have been enough to take on Sovereign. The most they would have done would have been to bombard the facility into dust and hoped their presence be enough to warn the Reaper away."

Vasir scoffed at the Commander. "Warn the Reaper away? A dreadnought, fleeing because of a few cruisers? I don't think so. The fleet would have been ordered to retreat."

Shepard shook her head. "Not necessarily. For some reason, Saren is still out there looking for the Conduit, even though he already has the firepower of an army of geth plus this dreadnought. This means he is not ready to engage in open battle. I think he has something a hell of a lot more dangerous than this one Reaper dreadnought hidden up his sleeves."

In her mind, having a few ships here to see Sovereign in person and then ordered back into retreat would have been the best case scenario. Shepard had _wanted_ the Citadel fleet to have a taste of what was to come, so they would not underestimate the Reaper. In all likelihood, Sovereign would not have given chase to the retreating fleet, and the Council would have been sufficiently warned of the danger they were facing. Had she been able to pull off this scheme, she would have reduced the casualty count dramatically for the upcoming battle.

If she had been truly lucky, the Council would have then ordered an enormous fleet to take out Sovereign immediately, and the battle would have taken place right here, in the middle of nowhere, instead of over a densely populated space station filled with civilians.

Alas, this best case scenario was nothing but a nice fantasy. Shepard could not even persuade the Council to send in one cruiser to evacuate the STG unit, so she had to fall back on the next best thing - Vasir's testimony.

"Regardless, this is nothing more than idle speculation. The reality is, we don't have a fleet, and our plan hasn't changed. It doesn't look like they've seen us, either. Pressly, have you found a place to drop us yet?" Shepard asked the XO.

"Yes ma'am," the Navigator replied, "I've found a spot with enough clearance a few clicks away from the facility."

"Alright. Joker, tell Tali to get ready. Fly us in under the radar, quiet as you can. No matter what you do, stay far far away from Sovereign. Maintain evasive maneuvers if it starts to move. I don't want to find out first hand if the Normandy can take a hit from Sovereign's main gun." Shepard gave Joker her final order.

For once, Joker was in no mood to joke. "Aye, aye, Commander. You can count on me."

"Good." Shepard turned to her XO. "Pressly, alert the crew to assume battle stations. I want all hands on deck for this one. And Vasir," she addressed the Spectre, "let's hurry. You can brief me on your fighting style in the Mako."

x-x-x

The constant rumble of tidal waves crashing against the broken shoreline, together with the noise of distant thunderclaps, formed the perfect natural disguise to mask the loud bang of the Mako's cannon fire. Geth troopers and drones patrolled the narrow strip of corridor where it was shallow enough for the Mako to drive on. Even while under heavy rocket fire, Shepard's squad had to come out of the relative safety from within the heavily armored vehicle to storm the locked gatehouses on foot several times.

It was a bit of a shock for Shepard to find out that the way Vasir fought was eerily similar to her own style. She had thought Vasir would be more of a typical asari commando than a human vanguard. Apparently her assumption was way off. If anything, Vasir actually came off as more reckless in battle than even Shepard herself was. Instead of using crowd control abilities such as lift and pull, Vasir favoured blasting off a couple biotic shockwaves in mid-range and immediately following up with a head-on charge to bulldoze her opponents. To support this combat style, Vasir maintained an extremely strong barrier at all times. This alone demonstrated the asari's mastery over her biotics.

Shepard mentally filed this information away for later. For the duration of this mission, she would try not to show all of her biotic abilities in front of Vasir. It would be difficult considering what she was planning to do, but she had to try. Before the Shadow Broker was taken down, Shepard could not afford to trust Vasir, the yahg's top agent, with more of her personal information.

Soon after the squad took down the third sets of AA tower controls, Joker radioed in to give Shepard the newest status update. "Commander, the Normandy has touched down at the base, but it looks like we are grounded. The salarian captain can explain when you get here."

"Roger that." Shepard acknowledged simply, already expecting this turn of event.

Vasir, on the other hand, was less than impressed. "Grounded? Who does that slimy lizard think he is to ground a Spectre's ship?"

Shepard gave Vasir a look. "You are not big on political correctness, are you?"

"I call it as I see it. If you want political correctness, go talk to a politician." Vasir said petulantly. It was obvious the asari was very short on patience for any perceived incompetence. Seeing how Vasir had not attempted to use degrading terms on either Tali or herself, they must have passed some kind of test in Vasir's mind. Then again, Vasir had not made any attempt to small talk at all during the entire Mako ride.

By the time the Mako rolled into the base camp, every member of her ground team had joined the STG team to assist them with evacuation. There was surveillance equipment to take down and injured troops to patch up. Kaidan and Ashley were already speaking with Captain Kirrahe when the two Spectres approached.

"Are you in charge here? What's the situation?" Shepard asked. Standing next to her, Vasir silently observed the proceedings with her arms crossed.

Captain Kirrahe introduced himself and explained, "you and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hot zone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence. There is no way for your ship to take off. We will have to stay put for the Council to send in the reinforcements we requested."

Vasir looked ready to pop a blood vessel. "We _are_ the reinforcements!"

"What?" Kirrahe was dumbstruck. "You are all they sent? I told the Council to send a fleet!"

Shepard sighed. "Hate to burst your bubble, but the fleet you requested is not coming. We're all you've got. The message you sent out was unclear, so the Council deemed it more prudent to send me here to investigate the situation."

"That is a repetition of our task. I've lost half of my men _investigating_ this place." Kirrahe spat.

The Commander understood Kirrahe's frustration only too well. "I'm sorry to hear that. What did you find?"

"Saren's base of operations. He's set up a research facility here, but it's crawling with geth and very well fortified."

Vasir perked up. "Have you seen Saren? Is he here?" Her tone set off an alarm bell in Shepard's head. She began to suspect the real reason why the Shadow Broker wanted Vasir to tag along.

Assassination. Lovely. Saren must have truly pissed off the Shadow Broker for him to send Vasir all the way here to rip the turian's spine out and beat his face in with it.

Kirrahe shook his head. "No, but we've intercepted some comms referring to Saren from the geth. This is his facility, there is no doubt about that."

Shepard inwardly braced herself before she asked, "any idea what's Saren researching?"

"He is using this facility to breed an army of krogan." Kirrahe answered in a clipping tone.

A beat of deafening silence later, and the questions began.

"How is that possible?" Vasir looked stunned. "Countless attempts have been made to counter the genophage. None ever worked."

Not far from the group, Shepard noticed Wrex watching the conversation intently while making no attempt to speak up. The only outward reaction she could see was how rigid his posture became.

"Apparently, Saren's made it work. This facility is not only crawling with geth, it is filled with an army of krogans. If this gets out, Saren will be unstoppable. We must ensure the facility and its secrets are destroyed."

Finally, Wrex could no longer hold himself in. "Destroyed? I don't think so. Our people are dying. This cure can save them."

Kirrahe was less than happy with the old krogan's interruption. "The krogans will overrun the galaxy if they get their hands on this cure. We can't make the same mistake again."

Shepard winced at the poor choice of words.

Wrex exploded. "We are _not_ a mistake!" He growled into Kirrahe's face, before visibly getting a hold of himself. He somehow managed to stalk away without headbutting the salarian.

Shepard was impressed by Wrex's self-control.

Kirrahe sputtered. He gave Shepard a reproachful frown and asked, "is he going to be a problem? We already have enough angry krogans to deal with."

"We should put him down before he even thinks of doing anything funny." Vasir reached for her pistol.

Shepard jumped in front of the asari with a hand up. "No. I'll talk to him. He won't be a problem."

In the distance, Wrex pulled out a shotgun and began randomly firing into the water. The booming gunfire clapped like thunder. Shepard understood Wrex was livid and vexed, but she wished he had not done that. The image of an angry krogan shooting off his firearm did not help his case.

Ashley frowned unhappily while giving Shepard a dubious look. "Are you sure, skipper? It's not that I don't trust him, but I really don't want you getting shot in the face."

"I am sure. Both of you, don't do anything. Let me talk to him." Shepard was firm and waited until she got a reluctant nod from Ashley and Vasir before she went to Wrex.

Wrex racked his shotgun when he saw her approach. "This isn't right, Shepard. If there is a cure for the genophage, we can't destroy it."

Shepard stood next to him, gazing at the water instead of looking at the krogan. "Do you remember Feros?" She asked.

Wrex stared at her. "What about it?"

"There were krogan mercs on Feros. Liara wondered out loud why they would ally themselves with the likes of Saren, and you said…"

Wrex finished her sentence. "Saren has no allies. He has tools."

Shepard nodded. "Exactly." She turned around to face Wrex. "I think Captain Kirrahe is wrong about many things. I don't think the krogans are a mistake, and I don't think Saren really has the cure for the genophage."

For a moment, Wrex looked like he didn't know what to say. Eventually, he let out a sigh.

"Explain."

Shepard smiled. "Alright. I'm not krogan, and I'm definitely not a racist. But does it ever occur to you that all of Saren's krogans look pretty much identical?"

"Wha… No. Really? I don't pay attention to their faces when I shoot them." Wrex scratched his head. "Wait, you are right. Those bastards _do_ have the same ugly mug. I can't believe this. They are tank-bred clones!"

"That's the conclusion I came to as well. I could hardly call this a proper cure for the genophage. It's an assembly line. This is where Saren manufactured his brainwashed soldiers. Remember Noveria? Krogan is not the only species on the menu. Saren got his talons on the rachni, too. The only difference is that the rachni went insane, but the clone krogans became his obedient slaves."

"We need to destroy them! This is an abomination! Hell, I'll help you blow up this place! Saren doesn't get to use my people as his weapon. We are nobody's slaves!" Wrex roared.

Shepard stuck out her arm. Wrex clutched her wrist in a warrior's handshake. "I'm glad you're on board, Wrex."

Wrex gave the Commander a fierce scowl. "Saren will bleed for this."

"You've named our target," Shepard replied with a bloodthirsty grin. "It will die."

The old battlemaster gaped at Shepard like he had never seen her before. It took him a while to fully collect himself. "You are not krogan, but you are krantt. I'm honored."

"The honor is all mine." Shepard said and withdrew her hand. "Speaking of which, did I tell you Liara is a quarter krogan?"

"No kidding?" Wrex gaffled. "No wonder I like her."

After speaking with Wrex, the Commander sauntered back to talk to the salarian captain. The gobsmacked looks from both Vasir's and Kirrahe's faces were quite comical, Shepard thought.

"I told you Wrex wasn't going to be a problem. He's very intelligent, and not just by krogan standards. Why are you surprised?" The Commander smirked.

"Un-fucking-believable." Vasir muttered. The half-pained, half-awed expression on her face told Shepard that the asari was re-evaluating her opinion on her, the young upstart human Spectre who was a fraction of her own age.

Kirrahe cleared his throat. "Commander, thanks for calming him down. I have used the time to come up with a plan to complete our missions."

"You've found a way to destroy the facility and get us off this planet? I'm listening."

Kirrahe began. "First, the bomb. We can convert our ship's drive system into a twenty-kiloton ordnance. Unfortunately, we will need to place the bomb at the far side of the facility for it to be effective. The only weak spot is the geothermal tap that powers this facility."

Shepard understood the reasoning. "This base is fortified so it can withstand a regular nuclear strike from orbit. Saren is one paranoid bastard."

"Precisely." Kirrahe continued. "Your ship can drop the bomb off, but we'll need to infiltrate the base, disable the AA guns, and pacify any ground forces first."

Vasir pursed her lips. "You'll have to go in on foot. You don't have enough men to pull this off."

Kirrahe shook his head. "No, we don't. I'm going to divide my men into three teams and hit the front of the facility. While we've got their attention, you can sneak your 'Shadow' team in the back."

"Not a bad idea, but there are a few problems." Shepard frowned as she listed them out. "One, your men are infiltrators, not frontline shock troopers. In a frontal assault, they are going to be slaughtered. Two, there are a few geth dropships in orbit. The second we arm the bomb, they are going to rain geth down from the sky in enough numbers to disable it. Three, Saren's dreadnought is parked close by. It's crewed with geth and krogans. Their ground troop can mobilize at a moment's notice. Four, once their reinforcements arrive, we will be pinned down in two places. There is a good chance no one will survive."

Kirrahe's face scrunched up like he had just sucked on a lemon. "I did not know about the dropships in orbit or the dreadnought. This changes things. Do you have a better plan then?"

Shepard nodded her head slowly. "Yes. It's the opposite of your plan, but the concept is the same. Essentially, it's a simple bait and switch."

Kirrahe tilted his head in interest. "Go on."

x-x-x

Personally, Liara thought that the waiting was much more unbearable than being on the ground while getting shot at. In fact, she would much prefer to be shot at right now, because at least that would mean that she was drawing fire away from Shepard.

The entire STG unit, the Normandy's ground team, and all the Alliance marines who did not have to man the ship's workstations at the moment, were all armed and armored inside the cargo bay, waiting just as impatiently as she was.

Ashley glowered. "I don't like this plan." Gripping her rifle tightly, she glared at nothing in particular as she seethed in impotent anger at the unfairness of it all.

Kaidan gave the woman a weary sigh. "With all due respect, Gunnery Chief, it's not your place to decide."

"Why is it that whenever someone says 'with all due respect' they really mean 'kiss my ass?'" Ashley exhaled noisily. "We should be out there by the Commander's side. The skipper is risking her life playing bait with no one to watch her back. And for what? The Council sent her here with no back up. They are _not_ going to thank her for going above and beyond her duty! They're going to blame her for anything that goes wrong instead!"

Garrus reminded Ashley, "the Commander is not out there alone. Vasir is with her."

Liara grimaced. Having to rely on Vasir to keep Shepard safe was a bitter pill for her to swallow. It was difficult enough to tolerate Vasir's presence on the ship when the older asari kept making passes at Shepard. Knowing this asari Spectre took on a side job as an agent of the Shadow Broker only reduced her credibility.

Ashley gave the former C-Sec an incredulous look. "Are you serious? Do you trust that woman to not shoot our Commander in the back?"

"I trust her to value her own life. Cooperating with the Commander gives her the best chance at getting out of this alive." Garrus explained.

The Gunnery Chief grudgingly accepted the cold logic. "Fine. I just… I just…"

"It's going to be alright." Liara spoke up, not only to reassure Ashley, but also to remind herself. "Shepard knows what she is doing. For her plan to work, she needs the mobility, and we need the strength in numbers. We would only slow her down if we go with her."

Tali looked up from the bomb she had been working on to speak her mind. "This is an accurate assessment. I don't know much about biotics, but Shepard did mention that she was very impressed with Vasir's biotic barrier. I have seen Vasir in battle. She is exceptionally fast. It is disheartening for me to admit it, but I suspect she is the only person who could keep up with Shepard for this mission."

Another bitter pill to swallow. Liara wished she had been good enough to watch Shepard's back in battle. The commander had made it perfectly clear that it was not about competency or compatibility. It was a matter of specialization. Stealth was required for the first half of the operation, while mobility and the raw power to smash through a great number of enemies were essential for the later half. The only person who fit the bill was Vasir.

Ashley was about to say something, when Shepard's voice came through the radio. "Communication tower disabled. Satellite uplink destroyed. Geth flyers ahead..."

The crew waited with baited breath.

"... and geth flyers destroyed."

The tone of that voice was almost cheerful, Liara thought. She couldn't help but wonder whether the Commander was putting up a brave front to calm her troops, or she was really doing well on the ground. This feeling of helplessness frustrated her to no end.

Another few minutes later, Shepard reported in again. "Stay put. We triggered a false alarm at the far side of the facility. Shadow is going in."

Liara let out a sigh of relief. The false alarm would draw attention away from Shepard. That meant she could remain undetected for even longer.

Clinging to the Commander's report like everyone else on the ship, Kirrahe and his infiltration operatives all looked very impressed with Shepard's progress. Their good mood did not last long.

"Found your missing men. I'm sorry. They are gone. Saren destroyed their minds." Shepard sounded resigned.

Kirrahe hung his head. Every single operative of the STG unit all looked ready to eat the crusty old turian alive. "How?" Kirrahe asked.

Liara explained. "The dreadnought, Sovereign, is a Reaper ship. Saren has been using its unique technology to indoctrinate people to do his bidding. This research facility is not only for cloning krogans. It appears Saren is trying to figure out the secret to mind-controlling people."

Her thoughts went to her mother. If an asari matriarch with an exceptionally strong mental fortitude could not resist the effect of Reaper indoctrination, what chances would the salarian soldiers have had? It was not a surprise that the captured salarians had been reduced to nothing more than mindless shells.

The salarian captain was repulsed by this information. "What? Saren can mind-control people? I see. This is how he controls the krogans. They are not loyal to him, they are his puppets! This is worse than I thought. We must inform the Council immediately."

Ashley could not help herself. "The Council has been informed, _repeatedly_ , ever since Eden Prime! Commander Shepard warned them again and again, but they refused to listen. All they ever do is send people out to _investigate_. They didn't like what the Commander finds so they sent her out to investigate some more, as if reality would alter if she investigated enough! This has been going on for four months. She stuck her neck out for you guys even before this mission. Now she is out there, drawing fire for everyone!"

This was news to Kirrahe. "What do you mean? What did the Commander do?"

Garrus' mandibles flared in the equivalent of a turian sneer. "She contradicted the Council's decision and advised them to send in a fleet to extract your unit. Councillor Sparatus used some diplomatic words, but essentially, he called her a coward for making such a suggestion."

"Found a live one! Lieutenant Ganto Imness." Shepard sounded excited. "They used him as a control group. I'm sending him your way. Follow protocols."

"Yes!" Kirrahe's men cheered. A group of three salarians were dispatched to wait outside so they can verify his identity when he reached the Normandy. A while later, the group came back with the previously captured operative. Lieutenant Ganto Imness was immediately disarmed and set to be escorted to the med bay by two Alliance marines as per regulation - just as their Commander had ordered.

"Captain Kirrahe." The salarian Lieutenant called out on his way to the elevator and saluted his captain. Liara could hear his voice break, even though it was clear the operative was doing everything he could to hold himself together. "My apologies, sir. I'm the only one who made it back. My team… We were wrong. The krogan clones are nothing compared to the horror of indoctrination. What they've done to our men... death is a mercy."

Kirrahe put a hand on Ganto's shoulder. "I'm glad you're back. Through you, our comrades' voices will be heard. Your… first hand account is invaluable intel that will serve to save a lot more lives in the future."

Ganto nodded and headed to the med bay. Before he left, he said to Kirrahe, "Commander Shepard did not have to let me out of the cell. There were dozens of captives in the compound, but she could tell I was the only one not indoctrinated. She gave me a spare pistol, told me the safest route to get here, and instructed me to walk around in a daze as if I were a mindless zombie to avoid combat. It was a very effective strategy. She saved my life."

Liara felt a swell of pride bubble up in her chest as she smiled at the recount. The same proud grin was mirrored on many Alliance soldiers' faces. Ashley looked especially smug, as she should. Shepard was a shining example of what humanity could accomplish; of course all her men were proud to hear of her exploits. This hero worship was comparable to how asari younglings thought of justicars in fantasy stories.

Shepard's voice interrupted the conversation. "Found the cloning lab. Wrex, if you're listening, I'll have you know I just killed a krogan scientist. I think he might be the only one in existence in the whole galaxy."

Wrex barked out a harsh laugh as a smiled found its way up to Liara's face. Shepard always knew how to make her crew feel better, especially in this kind of nerve wracking situation. Was it a surprise that her crew trusted her so much? This woman was a natural leader who inspired confidence and loyalty everywhere she went.

Another few minutes of silence later, Shepard reported in again. This time, she sounded tense. "Shadow is in the communication tower. We've found a… sensitive spot that guarantees to attract a lot of attention. I'm going to poke it. This is it, Archangel. Move out. And good luck."

At the command, Garrus, Liara, and Ashley dashed out of the cargo bay and headed straight for the facility, following Shepard's steps exactly as she had gone in. The Commander had sent them a very detailed map through her Omni-tool. She must have had Widget record it in the background for their team's benefit. It was amazing the amount of carnage the two Spectres had dealt out, if the amount of broken geth and dead krogans on the ground was any indication.

They did not slow down when they passed by cells filled with zombie-like, dead-eyed salarians.

They made it to the cloning lab without being seen by anyone before a horrible screeching shriek reverberated throughout the entire facility. Even ballistic glass windows got blown out by the terrible, terrible noise that seemed to pierce right through their skulls.

"God! Whatever it was she must've _really_ poked it!" Ashley grimaced, grabbing her head with both hands in a vain effort to stop the ringing.

The three of them hid behind a few crates as numerous geth and krogans ran past them, heading straight to the communications tower where Shepard and Vasir were currently barricaded.

"Now's our chance." Garrus said. They headed for the opposite direction and ran towards the AA tower.

There were a few drones standing guard over the turret control console, but the team made quick work of them. The majority of their would be opposition had been lured out of this area by whatever Shepard had done at the other end of the facility. Just to be safe, they not only turned off the remote turret control, but Garrus also went to the extra step to encrypt the control panel so that the geth couldn't immediately turn it back on.

"Archangel to the Normandy. AA guns are disabled. Drop in Red Rover. We're going back for Shadow!" Garrus called.

Joker replied, "roger that. Hurry, Archangel! The dreadnought just took off and pulled a turn that could shear any of our ships in half! It's heading for the Commander! You need to get her out, NOW!"

Shepard interrupted Joker. "Belay that! Stick to the plan and head to the rendezvous point instead. Assist Red Rover. We can handle ourselves!"

The order froze Liara's inside in an instant. All of a sudden, all she could hear was Shepard's broken voice, repeating that one line from her nightmare.

 _Let me die._

Liara yelled into her helmet comm. "I'm not leaving you behind!"

"You're not! You are helping me by drawing fire away from my position." Shepard yelled back. "Trust me!"

The weight in the two simple words made Liara lurch in her step.

Wrex's gravelly voice boomed through the comm. "If you die, Shepard, I'm gonna kill you myself!"

There was a flurry of activities in the minute that followed.

"All defenses in position. Red Rover will hold the line! We are primed and ready!" Kirrahe reported in.

Joker urged again. "Hurry up, Commander! It's raining geth out there!"

Garrus barked out his order to Liara and Ashley. "We need to move, now!"

Liara couldn't see it herself, but she was sure her expression must have been fixed in the most fearsome scowl she could manage. "Wait, I have an idea. Shepard needs a distraction, so I'll give her the biggest scene ever. Garrus, can you hack into the turret control to auto-target the dropships?"

"Yes I can!" Garrus racked his rifle and began frantically typing into his Omni-tool. "Haha! It worked! I'll lock it, too." He pulled out his shotgun and blew the control panel to slag.

"Ladies, let's move!" Ashley shouted as she blasted through the geth troopers coming up towards the control room from the breeding ground - fresh reinforcements dropped in from the geth ship outside.

The breeding trench outside was filled with enemy troops. The two geth dropships hovering over the yard were being harassed by the turrets, but they still managed to stay in position long enough to airdrop in an army of geth troopers and krogan soldiers. At the other end of the trench was the Normandy with its cargo bay ramp down, supported by temporary defensive walls made from empty crates, and manned by both the STG unit and the Normandy crew. The ship's engine was on, and the kinetic barrier was strong enough that even direct rocket fire could not scratch the paint job. It was a different story for the ground troops, however.

"Take out the rocket troopers first!" Kirrahe's voice shouted through the comm.

A familiar loud bang later, Wrex answered coolly, "got them." He had taken them out with the Mako's cannon; Liara only just noticed the heavily armored vehicle hiding behind the wall of crates.

To Liara, an asari maiden who had never had the opportunity to see a proper battlefield, it was a strangely organized chaos. Red Rover, the code name for all combined ground forces guarding the bomb, had dug in their collective heels and built a defensible perimeter around the back of the Normandy's cargo ramp while they waited for Shadow and Archangel to rendezvous.

Backed with the Mako cannon fire and forty very determined soldiers, Captain Kirrahe held the line. Every time a rocket trooper dropped onto the battlefield, it was immediately identified and taken out before it could fire off a single shot to damage the defensive walls. With ample coverage to protect the salarians from enemy fire, those infiltration specialists had the elbow room to do what they did best - sabotage. After stripping off enemy shields and overheating their weapons, the Alliance marines would then step in to finish them off from a respectable distance. This demonstration of their superior firepower gave credence to the old saying that every marine was a rifleman.

Most of the enemies were drawn to the Normandy like moths to flame. The few that were closer to Archangel's position, however, decided to charge at them.

"The Commander will be right behind us. We'll clear the way!" Garrus growled and switched out his assault rifle for his beloved sniper rifle. "Chief, cover fire. Liara, keep the krogans back."

Liara's body hummed with biotics as she snapped out bursts of energy in quick succession, herding the enemies away while bunching them into a tight group. She repeated the biotic attacks as quickly as her body could handle the strain. Even when she couldn't recharge fast enough to continue the assault, she used her pistol to make up the difference. One thought was constant on her mind - every enemy she took out was one less obstacle between Shepard and the Normandy.

Just as she had a group of three geth and two krogans trapped in a singularity, Liara heard a whoosh of air rush past her, and then the group exploded in a brilliant inferno of blue.

In its place, Shepard stood at ground zero of the biotic explosion. "Hope I didn't make you guys wait too long?"

Liara and Garrus gleefully shouted her name to welcome her back. They were too busy shooting at moving targets to give snarky comebacks, but Ashley whooped and laughed loudly enough for the three of them. "'Bout damn time!"

Hot on the Commander's heels, Vasir charged into the trench in a flash of biotic energy. "You are one _ridiculous_ human, Shepard!" The asari Spectre spat out the Commander's name like a curse.

Shepard ignored Vasir's hostile attitude in favour of giving out orders through the comm. "Red Rover, we are coming in. Get ready to pack up. Joker, where is Sovereign?"

"Three more minutes and it's gonna be right on top of us!" Joker replied.

"All hands, on the double!" Shepard shouted, and everyone _sprinted_.

Less than a minute later, Liara found herself collapsed on the cargo bay floor along with many other soldiers, all of them panting and gasping hard from the mad dash to safety. The ship made the slightest jerk, and off it went into FTL speed, just as the nuke went off on Virmire.

x-x-x

 _Earlier that day, in the salarian base camp on Virmire:_

"Yes. It's the opposite of your plan, but the concept is the same. Essentially, it's a simple bait and switch." Shepard said, though in fact the plan was nowhere near as simple as she would have Kirrahe believe. She had spent months plotting for this mission to unfold exactly the way she wanted it to happen.

Her first move was to steal the sophisticated VI Hannibal from the Alliance lunar base for her own use, so she could locate Cerberus bases without getting Admiral Kahoku killed. The next step was to use the hard won Cerberus intel to maneuver the Shadow Broke into giving her help. She had stolen, lied, and manipulated her friends and foes alike to get to this point.

In the days to come, she would continue to cajole and threaten and make tremendous sacrifices. Shepard was prepared to win this war without her limbs or honour intact.

Kirrahe tilted his head in interest. "Go on."

Shepard began to explain. "You want to create a diversion to draw enemy fire in order for another team to sneak in and disable the AA guns. You don't need to throw your entire unit at the enemy to achieve the desired effect. A small group of infiltrators can do the same job. If I were Saren, I would be more suspicious as to why a salarian infiltration team would bother to attempt a suicidal frontal assault. I mean, what exactly could you even hope to accomplish with this assault other than suicide by enemy fire? It's not like there is a chance you could win against their numbers."

Vasir agreed to the logic. "That's a fair point. It is very suspicious if you think about it."

Kirrahe looked uncomfortable to have his plan picked apart by the two Spectres.

Shepard continued. "You said you've lost half of your men investigating this place. To put it bluntly, I think the reason why you have not lost _all_ of your men is because Saren did not see you as a real threat. A nuisance, maybe, but not worth the trouble to root out as long as you behave. Here is where we can use Saren's arrogance against him. If a small infiltration unit gets in the facility, my guess is no one would be too surprised. They would probably think, 'hey, it's the salarians sniffing around again' and let whoever assigned to guard a certain area to deal with the small problem on their own. Geth might share processing power when they are in proximity with each other, but they don't have a hive mind nor do they share sensory data. Plus, tank-bred krogans are not smart. That means they can both be tricked."

Kirrahe narrowed his eyes at the Commander for a moment before he let out a defeated sigh. "It vexes me to admit it, but your evaluation on the situation is embarrassingly accurate. The only reason why we are still alive at all is because we've been hiding here waiting for reinforcements instead of trying to get back inside the facility to rescue our men. The geth are content to ignore us as long as we do nothing."

"We can use the situation to our advantage." Shepard laid out her plan in more detail. "I've studied the map of the facility you gave me. The turrets are at the far end of the facility, close to where the geothermal taps are. If we send in one infiltration team to cause a lot of disturbance at the opposite end of the facility, another team can use the distraction to turn off the AA guns. We can then land the Normandy right next to the taps, plant the bomb, build a temporary defensive wall around the bomb, and guard it with as many men as we can spare, for as long as we can before the dreadnought arrives. Preferably, after the two infiltration teams make it back to the ship."

Blinking owlishly in the salarian equivalent of a thoughtful frown, Kirrahe agreed. "This is a better plan. I will assemble my best infiltrators for this assignment."

"No." Shepard shook her head. "Your men are trained infiltrators, that's precisely why they are _not_ suited for this job. The two infiltration teams will encounter significant enemy opposition once the reinforcements arrive. In other words, both teams need to be heavy hitters. My squad can handle this. Your men will be more useful guarding the bomb. I have over a dozen Alliance soldiers on board. They will do well with some tech support."

Kirrahe still looked uncertain. "Are you sure about this? No offense, but I don't have the confidence that the first team whose job is to cause a distraction will survive. I was going to ask for volunteers amongst my men for this suicide mission."

"This is _not_ a suicide mission. You don't want to know what a suicide mission looks like." Shepard stressed. "In fact, I already have the team picked out. Vasir and I will do it."

Said asari Spectre gave the Commander a sharp look. "Did you just volunteer me without asking?"

Shepard grinned innocently. "Yes I did. Unless you don't want to?"

"Careful, Shepard. You presume much." Vasir warned.

"Well, I need someone who can keep up with my speed. It would be a bonus if this person can pack a punch. I suppose Wrex is a better choice." Shepard said, rubbing her chin in a show of consideration.

"Keep up… Are you joking? I am a _master_ at biotic charge! Few _asaris_ can keep up with me, much less a _human_. You will find no one better for the job." Vasir snapped at her.

 _Hook, line, and sinker. Asari superiority is so damn predictable._

Shepard regarded Vasir with doubt in her eyes. "Does that mean you've changed your mind? I thought you didn't want to do it."

"You insufferable pyjak." The asari Spectre cursed when she realized Shepard had backed her into a verbal corner. Her pride would not allow her to be passed over in favour of a krogan. Growling menacingly at the human, Vasir said, "I will remember this," and stalked away.

"I'll take that as a yes. Thank you." Shepard said to Vasir's retreating back.

Vasir flipped her off without looking back.

Shepard was not offended by the rude gesture. She thought she deserved a little rudeness from Vasir for manipulating her this way. "Captain Kirrahe," the Commander turned back to the salarian to finalize the plan. "Vasir and I will be Shadow. The second infiltration team will be Archangel. May I ask you to lead the third team, Red Rover, to guard the bomb?"

Kirrahe agreed without a moment of hesitation. "Yes, Commander. Red Rover will hold the line."

Shepard smiled at the reply. Human reference to a children's game probably did not translate to the salarian, but it was still funny to her. "Excellent. I'll brief my team and then we can get started."

x-x-x

The Commander gathered her ground team in the Normandy's bridge to update them on the operation. As expected, there was resistance to Shepard's plan from her own crew; all of which stemmed from concerns for their Commander's safety. Understanding that mere reassurance would not be effective to assuage their fear, Shepard decided to employ a different tactic.

"Once the bomb is armed, the enemies will converge on the bomb site to deactivate it. During the second phase of this operation, your job is not only to guard the bomb, but also to divert fire away from my position. This means that if you can present yourselves as a bigger threat while holding the line for as long as possible, the better my chance of survival would be. I have no intention to be anywhere else but on the Normandy when that nuke goes off. I'm not suicidal." She said with a confidant smirk.

Her crew seemed to relax after she said that. All except Liara. The maiden made a distressed noise that sounded like a whimper. Shepard recognized the fear in her innocent blue eyes; she had seen it before - the night before Ilos.

The situation made it so it was inappropriate for Shepard to openly show too much personal concern for Liara. As the CO of a military vessel, certain professional standards must be observed.

"Really, I'll be fine." She said quietly to Liara, and lightly touched her arm. The brief physical contact was all it took to establish a shallow mental connection.

 _Trust me, Liara. I am yours. I will come back for you. I promise._

Liara kept her eyes closed so the black wouldn't show.

 _As I am yours, my love. Keep yourself safe for me._

When Liara opened her eyes again, Shepard was relieved to see that the shadow of fear had been somewhat muted. It was not completely gone, but her lover did not seem to be on the verge of a panic attack either.

Having done that, Shepard then turned to address team Archangel. "Garrus, Ashley, Liara. You three will be on the ground as well. Depending on how the situation unfolds, I might give you different instructions. If everything goes according to plan, I want you to head straight back to the rendezvous point as soon as you disable the turrets. You will follow my orders, even if you don't like them. If you can't agree to this, tell me now and I'll switch you out."

The three exchanged significant looks with each other. "We will do as you command. You can count on us." Garrus said, while Ashley and Liara nodded firmly in agreement.

"Good." Shepard turned to Kaidan. "Lieutenant, you are most familiar with our crew's capability. I want you to assist Captain Kirrahe to work out a defensive plan. Use everything and the kitchen sink. I want to minimize our casualty."

"Aye, aye, Commander." Kaidan saluted and went to round up marines for the operation.

"Joker, Pressly, the hard deadline is before Sovereign reaches the rendezvous point. I don't care who is still on the ground. You take off and run like hell if the dreadnought is here. Are we clear?"

The two gawked at her.

Shepard's voice hardened into an unforgiving snarl. "I said, _are we clear_?"

There was a flash of defiance on both men's faces, but they relented under Shepard's flinty glare.

"Yes, ma'am. Perfectly." Pressly replied.

"Crystal, Commander." Joker said in a subdued voice.

Satisfied with their replies, Shepard wordlessly left the bridge to make her own preparations.

When she got on the empty crew deck, she found Kasumi standing next to her locker, waiting. The thief was fully cloaked as per usual, but Shepard had gotten the hang of sensing her position after four days of trial and error. She opened her locker and pretended to do a final weapon check. "Remember what we talked about. Stay safe, stay hidden. Do not engage in combat unless you absolutely have to. Here," she gave Kasumi an OSD and explained, "tracking program. I'll be able to see you with my cybernetic eyes, but you won't show up on the HUD."

Kasumi took the disc and slotted it into her Omni-tool. "You are taking on a lot of extra risk, keeping me hidden from Vasir."

"I don't know how much information she is passing on to the Shadow Broker. The less she knows, the better." Shepard said quietly.

"I suppose that's a solid reason to not trust her." Kasumi muttered. A beat later, she asked, "I've seen you in combat before. It was this video footage on that asteroid where you popped the batarian terrorist. How should I put it… You were impressive, don't get me wrong. But you came off as the steady kind of fighter, not the fast kind, if you get what I mean. Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

Shepard's lips twitched into a lopsided smirk. "I'll be fine."

x-x-x

A/N: The next chapter is the Virmire assault from Shepard's point of view. These two chapters are meant to be consumed in one sitting. It's more fun this way. Enjoy.


	11. I-11: Virmire - Part 2

Book I - Chapter 11: Virmire - Part 2

Back in the early days when the Alliance first had biotics enlisted, no one was entirely sure what their capabilities were. The Alliance did the only thing that made sense and hired asari commandos to help come up with a training program. Naturally, all the human biotics enlisted were trained as adepts. Those that had the skills to learn techs were later splintered off to a separate class as sentinels while those who were versed in martial arts were trained as vanguards. It took years of actual combat experience for the two biotic hybrid classes to eventually grow into their own.

Sentinels became self-sufficient versatile juggernauts with amazing lasting power on the field. As for vanguards, they were transformed to closely resemble ricocheting exploding cannonballs. At close to mid range, a properly trained vanguard could single handedly devastate a large horde of enemies in a flurry of power combos in seconds without having to fire a shot.

This kind of evolution came to pass purely out of necessity because of the Reapers. After hundreds of years hiding beyond the Perseus Veil, geth emerged with a new weapon based off of Reaper tech, and unleashed Husks to the galaxy. To fight these aggressive, mindless, undead monsters that always came in huge swarms, people had to invent new ways to deal with this threat...

… and then some guy came up with the bright idea of putting a sword in an N7's hand.

A human biotic may never have the natural finesse as a trained asari, but an N7 Slayer was _fast_.

Shepard did slip up a few times, but mostly she had been sticking to textbook biotic abilities that came straight out of Alliance training manuals. To survive the Virmire mission, the Commander would have to show her hand to Vasir - not all of her hand, of course, just a few biotic skills that had not made their way into the Alliance's standard training program for vanguards quite just yet.

Shadow approached their first target, a communication tower with triangulation antenna located outside of the facility that was guarded by a group of geth troopers. They would need to disable the device before the infiltration teams could use their radios without revealing their locations.

Smiling at Vasir, Shepard snapped a singularity at the group of geth, before she charged at them like a bullet shot out of a barrel of a sniper rifle. The timing was perfect. The resulting biotic explosion instantly fractured the synthetics into scrap metal. "This should mess up their triangulation." Shepard muttered to herself as she powered down the antenna.

"I didn't know you can do biotic charge." Vasir accused.

"You didn't ask." Shepard answered in a bored tone.

Vasir glared at Shepard. "This is critical information I should have been privy to before the operation started. How did you expect me to coordinate with your attacks without knowing how you fight?"

"My mistake. I thought you knew already." Shepard frowned in consternation. "It's inconceivable that you would be completely oblivious to my combat capability when you are so informed of my sexual hang-ups that no one else but my bed partners should be awared of."

The disturbed look on Vasir's face showed that she did not know what to say to Shepard's retort.

"If you've read my service record, you'd know that I am an Alliance trained vanguard. It means I was trained to use offensive biotic attacks - biotic charge being one of them. You can use the same skill, too. I don't see why this is a surprise. It's like having to explain to other people what an asari huntress can do. It's supposed to be common knowledge." Shepard said in a matter of fact way.

It was a clever lie. Alliance trained vanguards would not learn how to do a biotic charge for another year, at least. But Shepard was betting on Vasir not knowing that. Vasir might not be an outright enemy yet, but she was at best a reluctant ally at this point.

Fortunately, Vasir did not suspect a thing. "It might be common knowledge to humans, but I wouldn't know how the Alliance trains their soldiers. You need to tell me these things."

"Fair enough." Shepard shrugged and gestured Vasir to keep pressing on.

The next target was the satellite uplink dish. Once they removed it, communication between the facility and geth dropships in orbit would be significantly delayed. The Normandy could really use the precious few minutes before reinforcements arrived at the rendezvous point.

Not to be outdone by a human Spectre, Vasir launched a shockwave at the dish fixed at the roof of the outpost and broke it to pieces before the guards could react before following up with a series of ferocious charges. Shepard was content to stand back and provide cover fire, letting Vasir show off her skills without turning this into a competition. She was starting to feel a little bit guilty for manipulating her not-quite-enemy this way, so she decided not to tread on Vasir's ego too much.

"Very nice." Shepard praised sincerely.

Vasir gave her a mistrustful sideway glance.

Following the road leading toward the facility, they soon ran into a fork.

"Which way?" Vasir asked.

Shepard closed her eyes and listened. "North. I hear flyers that way. They're not moving much - could be guarding something. We should check it out."

Vasir stared at her.

"Cybernetic." Shepard explained in one word.

Vasir frowned, but did not argue with her.

"Krogans." Shepard pointed at the enemies milling about on one of the landing platform. Her singularity was only a fraction of a second faster than Vasir's shockwave. The resulting explosion staggered them and removed all of their shields. While the group of krogans were stunned and helpless, Shepard charged into them and gutted them with her shotgun. Vasir was right alongside her, raining down fire with her assault rifle. The two of them were evenly matched in term of pure speed.

It seemed Vasir was also made aware of this fact. This incensed the senior Spectre to no end, if the resentful downward slant of her tattooed lips was any indication. Shepard politely pretended to be ignorant of Vasir's sentiments.

They found the geth flyer fueling platform at the north end of the walkway. The large fuel tank was only lightly guarded by a few drones. If they took them out now, fewer flyers could mobilize in the second half of the operation. This reminded Shepard that she should probably report in to update the other teams. She activated her helmet comm and began, "communication tower disabled. Satellite uplink destroyed. Geth flyers ahead…"

Vasir punched out a shockwave before unleashing a hail of bullets at the drones. Shepard joined in the firefight with a warp, dodged away from a rocket strike, and retaliated with a well-aimed shot that blew up the fuel tank. The spectacular explosion knocked all the flyer drones out of the sky. "... and geth flyers destroyed."

Satisfied with the sabotage, they followed the walkway and headed straight for the facility. There were more guards outside than expected. The noise of the fuel tank exploding was different enough from the usual lightning strikes to attract some attention.

Clenching her hand into a fist in a gesture to stop, Shepard signaled Vasir to wait at the blindspot of the platform where incoming guards couldn't see her immediately. The Commander herself took the north walkway and fired off a couple of shots at the facility's direction before retreating back onto the platform. Soon they could hear heavy footsteps accompanied by familiar soft whirring sounds coming towards them. While their enemies were lined up nicely on the narrow walkway, Shepard trapped them with a singularity. The next moment, Vasir bulldozed them over in a streak of blue light. The scene could only be described as life-sized bowling where the pins blew up after the strike. Those that did not die immediately were injured enough to be quickly picked off by Shepard's shotgun.

Having taken out most of the guards outside, they made it into the facility with minimal opposition. Inside, Shepard found a working console that controlled the doors to the warehouse. After fiddling with the console for a minute, an alarm went off inside the facility while all the doors unlocked.

"What did you do?!" Vasir snapped at Shepard.

"Relax, Vasir. No need to bite my head off." Shepard turned on the helmet comm and reported in. "Stay put. We triggered a false alarm at the far side of the facility. Shadow is going in."

Vasir frowned at Shepard. "You could've said so before you did it."

"At some point, you will learn to accept that I know what I'm doing." Shepard said with an eyeroll.

They continued onward. Inside the warehouse, they found salarians in STG uniform shooting at them on top of the usual geth and krogan guards. To say Vasir was perturbed by this turn of events was an understatement. "This makes no sense." The asari Spectre nudged one dead salarian on the floor with the tip of her boot. "No outward sign of torture. The uniform looks genuine. What is going on?"

Shepard sighed. This was the unpleasant part of this mission she could not have prevented even with her foreknowledge. She turned on the comm and updated the crew, "found your missing men. I'm sorry. They are gone. Saren destroyed their minds."

Vasir gave her a sharp look. "Explain. You know something."

"There are probably more of them inside. It looks like cloning krogans is not the only thing Saren built this research facility for. Brace yourself. If my guess is right, it's gonna get ugly, fast."

The sight was just as ghastly as she remembered. They found rolls of cells filled with broken salarians. Those were the elite soldiers, hardened professional spies the Council employed to do the most difficult black ops that few others could take on. Saren's experimentations had turned some of them into screaming, spitting mad beasts, and others into mumbling, drooling imbeciles. All of them were mindlessly shuffling around inside the cells. None paid the team any attention.

The horror stricken expression on Vasir's face summed up what she felt about the situation acutely.

In one of the cells, they found the one salarian who not only appeared to be completely lucid, but also alert and intelligent. "Hello? Is anyone there? Well, you are not a geth, and you're not in a lab coat. I guess I'm glad to see you. Lieutenant Ganto Imness of the Third Infiltration Regiment, captured during recon. I assume the fleet was called in to destroy the base?"

Shepard exchanged a look with Vasir. The latter scrunched up her face as if physically punched in the gut. "Sorry, we're all you've got. The transmission wasn't clear. The fleet is not coming. Commander Shepard, Tela Vasir, Spectres."

The captured salarian was crestfallen. "I see. I know the captain. He will want this facility destroyed. My team was altered, indoctrinated. He knew about the breeding grounds. But the indoctrination is a bigger threat, and far more horrifying. I watched good people reduced to mindless husks. There isn't anything left. Others died during the experiments. I envy them."

"What kind of experiments were they conducting that could do this to people?" Vasir asked with disgust clear in her voice.

"They were studying indoctrination. Symptoms, progress. Saren uses it to control his people, but I don't think he fully understands it. I don't know much else. Please, let me out. I can't stay here. They'll turn me into an empty husk just like they did to the others." Ganto sounded desperate near the end.

"The others are gone, that much is obvious. What I don't understand is why you seem fine." Shepard asked.

Ganto answered with self-loathing. "They isolated me on purpose. Control group, they called it. I got to watch them torture my men with my faculties perfectly intact."

Shepard thought for a moment and opened the cell. Ganto was in tears when the cell door slid open. "Here, take my spare pistol, but don't use it. You remember what the indoctrinated ones act like, right? Imitate their movements and head for my ship. Go upstairs, head towards the corridor, exit the warehouse, head east and follow the trail of broken geth on the ground. Keep your face blank and move like you're in a trance. You can start running after you clear the walkway. Go."

The salarian did not waste time and left immediately.

Shepard updated the crew over the radio on the new development. "Found a live one! Lieutenant Ganto Imness. They used him as a control group. I'm sending him your way. Follow protocols."

"Are you sure your good deed of the day is not going to come back and bite you in the ass?" Vasir asked.

Shepard scoffed at her. "You thought I freed him out of the goodness of my heart? Please. I need the Council to listen to his testimony." The unspoken part was that the Council would not believe a word their newest Spectre said, so maybe they would listen to a salarian STG operative. Shepard was willing to risk Ganto raising an alarm and giving away their position in exchange for a credible eye witness when reporting back to the Council.

This reply seemed to stymie Vasir. "The Council is normally… less critical of their Spectres." The fellow Spectre said diplomatically.

"Let's keep moving." Shepard did not dignify this weak attempt to excuse the Council's deplorable attitude towards her with a response.

They went back to the security office and rode the elevator up to the next level. The first thing that greeted them when the elevator door opened was the grisly sight of a husk standing inside a full-body medical scanner. They immediately readied their weapons and assumed combat position when they laid eyes on the undead creature. However, the husk did not react to their presence at all.

Shepard signaled Vasir to wait inside the elevator. The two held their breaths as they listened. Except for the quiet humming and beeping noise associated with a medical lab, and the highly disturbing low moans from the few husks inside the lab, they heard the distinctive voice of a krogan muttering to himself. "Regeneration, acceptable. Metabolism, high. Cloned protein deterioration rate… high. Estimated lifespan… two years. Better than the last batch."

Slowly, the two crept forward towards the krogan scientist in silence. The previously docile husks sprang into action as soon as they detected the intruders when they came in proximity.

Swearing inwardly to herself, Shepard reflexively used her biotic to throw the closest husk back. The loud crash attracted the attention of the krogan and his asari assistant. She left the few husks alone for Vasir to take care of and charged across the room to dispatch the two scientists. The krogan was in a lab coat instead of armor. Shepard managed to stun him long enough to take him out with a shotgun blast. Similarly, the asari was unable to react to the sudden attack, and was killed when Shepard warped her insides into goo.

While Vasir was at the other end of the room dealing with a small group of husks, Shepard quickly typed into her Omni-tool and instructed Kasumi to collect data from all the terminals inside the lab and then wait for Archangel. From here onward, Shadow was about to get involved in some heavy combat, and Shepard did not want Kasumi to get caught up in the crossfire. The thief acknowledged her order and quickly began her task.

"Found the cloning lab. Wrex, if you're listening, I'll have you know I just killed a krogan scientist. I think he might be the only one in existence in the whole galaxy." Shepard reported in as she walked toward Vasir.

"Krogan scientist are rare. Can't say I've seen many of them." Vasir said, eyeing the down husks on the floor with obvious distaste. "This organic-synthetic Husk creature. I've read about them in your reports. Individually, they are weak, but I could see them being deployed as terror troops in large numbers to inflict psychological damage on the battlefield. Geth are more devious than we thought."

Shepard looked around the lab and noticed all the medical scanners. "More importantly, why are they being studied here? I thought they were made with geth tech. If that were true, then Saren would have had complete access to the technology, seeing how the geth regarded Saren as their prophet. Something doesn't add up."

Vasir scowled. "Unless it's not made with geth tech."

"You're thinking that husks are made from Reaper tech, just like indoctrination. Saren has access to the techs, but he doesn't really understand how they work. That's why he is researching them here. Great. If the Council had believed me before, they wouldn't believe me now. This information is going to be buried because it messes with their plan to blame everything on the geth. Eden Prime? Geth. Feros? Geth. Noveria? Geth again. I bet you they're going to say that Sovereign is a geth ship." Shepard let out an exasperated sigh, having already foreseen how this was going to be covered up again.

The asari Spectre pursed her lips, and refrained from making a comment.

In the edge of Shepard's field of vision, Widget changed colour and spat out a message from Kasumi. The thief had successfully extracted all the data from the lab.

"We're almost there." Shepard said and headed for the door exiting to the communication tower.

There were a few guards patrolling outside the cloning lab, but they did not slow the Shadow team down the slightest. One singularity later, the guards were yanked over the railing and soon plunged to their death.

Inside the security office leading to the tower, they found an asari scientist hiding under her desk. "Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late."

"Get up and start talking." Shepard demanded.

The asari with black facial markings answered nervously, "Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist. Please, I just want to get out of here. This job isn't worth dying for, or worse. You think the indoctrination only affect the prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren would want to dissect my brain, too."

An irate growl made it past the Commander's clenched teeth. Shepard took a step forward and pointed her pistol at the scientist's head. "I've seen the salarian test subjects. I know Saren is experimenting on them to study the effects of indoctrination. Tell me something I don't know."

Thanoptis flinched back in terror. "Goddess, please, just don't shoot. I'll tell you everything. Saren's dreadnought, Sovereign. It emits some kind of… signal. Undetectable, but it's there. Direct exposure to the signal turns you into a mindless slave. Even in proximity, the signal can still cause damage, although it takes longer. The process of indoctrination remains unclear, but it can be subtle. By the time the effect becomes noticeable, it's usually too late. One of the first brains I got to dissect was my predecessor's."

"Is that it? Anything else you want to tell me?" Shepard lowered her pistol.

Thanoptis let out a relieved sigh. "This elevator behind me goes to Saren's private lab. I can get you in." She hurried over and unlocked it with her access card. "See? Full access. All of Saren's private files. Are we good? Can I go?"

Shepard put a bullet between Thanoptis' eyes without fanfare. "Go to hell."

"Shocking." Vasir commented with her eyebrows raised. "I thought for sure you would let her go."

"Why would I?" Shepard asked as she scanned the room for useful loot, genuinely puzzled by Vasir's speculation. "You heard her. She helped Saren experiment on salarian captives. Her predecessor was indoctrinated due to prolonged contact with the Reaper ship. It was a distinct possibility that she was also indoctrinated, too. If I was right, then I've done her a favour by putting her down clean. If I was wrong, they she was fully responsible for her actions and therefore deserved to be executed. Anything less than death would be injustice."

"You are full of suprises, Shepard. Here I thought I've had you pegged as an aspiring hero with a savior complex. Who knew you could be quite the renegade when the situation calls for it?" Vasir said with a smirk.

Shepard frowned at the asari. "I'm no savior. I only did my duty."

"I didn't hear you dispute the hero part."

Shepard resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Your definition of hero is very skewed if you think blowing an unarmed person's brains out after she surrendered qualifies me as one. I'm an N7 marine bred Spectre, not a bleeding heart good guy."

"You misunderstood." Vasir clarified. "I never said you were the good guy. You're not afraid to get your hands dirty to get the job done. I respect that."

Shepard was uncertain what to say to that. It sounded almost like approval, and she had no idea where that came from. If shooting someone in cold blood was all it took to earn Vasir's respect, Shepard didn't know if she wanted it. "In any case, we should get going."

They went through the security office and took the elevator up to the top level of the communication tower.

"What is that thing? It looks… Prothean." Vasir walked towards the beacon in fascination. Her advance was halted when Shepard physically took a hold of her arm and stopped her from getting too close.

"Wait."

Vasir pulled her arm back from Shepard's grasp and glared at her. "What's the meaning of this?"

"I'm saving your life. That is a working Prothean beacon. If you get too close, it will download the psychic message into your brain. Since you're not a Prothean, the best case scenario is that the thing will incapacitate you for at least half a day. I'd have to leave you here to die. If I try to carry you on my back while fighting my way through hordes of geth and krogans on my own, we'll both die. The worse case scenario is that the beacon will fry your non-Prothean brain and your head explodes. You'll die a very messy death." The Commander explained calmly.

Vasir looked slightly flustered from the close brush with death. "This is an utter waste of critical information. Fucking politicians. We are about to destroy a _working Prothean beacon_ because they wouldn't give us the backup we needed. Wait 'till the Matriarchy hear of this." The six-hundred plus year old asari matron muttered with a dark glower.

"I'll do it." Shepard said.

Vasir's head whipped around, her stormy purple eyes flashing with restrained fury. "You will do no such thing, you imprudent child."

Shepard placated the angry woman with a hand held up in a gesture for peace. "Hear me out. On Feros, I've received the Prothean Cipher through a knowledge meld. I can think like a Prothean. Whatever is stored in that beacon, I will be able to understand it as well as a Prothean could. Chances are, I'll be completely fine. This is a risk we should be willing to take."

"If this kills you…"

"Feel free to tell everyone we were overwhelmed, and I got hit by a bunch of rockets. Nothing you could've done to save me."

Vasir pulled her lips back in a vicious snarl. "I swear I will leave you here if you're knocked out. Don't think for a second that I won't."

"I know that. I never accuse _you_ of having a savior complex." Shepard countered with clear humour in her smooth voice.

"Fine. Go ahead and stick your fingers into the socket. See if I care." Vasir crossed her arms while glaring at the young human sullenly.

Shepard turned on her radio. "Shadow is in the communication tower. We've found a… sensitive spot that guarantees to attract a lot of attention. I'm going to poke it. This is it, Archangel. Move out. And good luck." Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the beacon's green holographic console, and put her hands on it to activate the device.

Power. Raw, unadulterated power surged through her body. Shepard arched back and choked on a silent scream. The sheer force that poured out of the beacon levitated her up in the air, locked her in place, and split her consciousness wide open.

And then she saw _everything_.

Every communication signal that ever went through this beacon, touched her mind in a the span of a heartbeat. The entirety of the Great Prothean Empire that spanned the whole of the Milky Way galaxy, lived, prospered, died, and faded away. Dust in the stellar wind.

It was beautiful, and so so _sad_.

The next moment, Shepard found herself kneeling on the floor, gasping. The beacon's green interface panel was gone. Above her, the sinister red holographic image of Sovereign hovered silently in the air.

The Commander got back on her feet and climbed up the stairs for a chat with the devil.

Vasir tore her eyes away from the holo image of a Reaper to give her a quick once over. "Well, you're not dead. I guess it went well?"

Shepard gave the asari a tremulous smile. The vision was intense. It left her feeling naked and vulnerable. It would most likely give her a raging headache later. But for now, she was fine. "It's not what I expected, but yeah, I suppose. I'm still standing. But that," she pointed at the red holo image and said, "is not so good."

The familiar malevolent low growl that had given her many nightmares, began. "You are not Saren."

"Way to state the obvious, genius. And you are not a VI." Shepard quipped glibly.

Sovereign mocked them, flaunting its own perceived superiority with this opening speech. "Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own, you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!"

"Pretentious title you got there. Are you sure that's your real name? Something more pedestrian, like Nazara, would suit you better. That's what the Protheans called you, wasn't it? You're not just a ship. You _are_ a Reaper, a sentient machine AI." Shepard spoke with undisguised contempt.

"Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are. Names and titles are of no consequence to us."

The purple of Vasir's face had turned a shade paler. "The Protheans vanished 50,000 years ago. What you claim is impossible."

Sovereign replied in its arrogant monotone. "Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

"We organics are very adapted at surviving. Your hubris will be your undoing." Shepard snarled.

"Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken." Sovereign chided.

Shepard took a step forward, even though she knew the image was nothing more than a hologram. "The cycle of extinction you are so proud of cannot be sustained. Have you forgotten that we organics are the products of genetic mutations? How many times has the pattern repeated itself? They were not all the same, were they? You built the Citadel, you built the Mass Relays, you tried to guide and control how organics evolve and advance, but you can't really control organics, not completely. We always surprise you. We always fight back."

Sovereign's deep, mechanical voice took on an irate tone at the rebuttal. "We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."

"You and what army?" Shepard taunted, even though she knew the answer already. This was done for Vasir's benefit.

"We are legion." Sovereign boasted. "The time for our return is coming. Our number will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."

Vasir could no longer reign herself in. "You are harvesting us! Letting us advance to the level you need, then wiping us out! Why? What could possibly be your purpose? Slaves? Resources? What is it that you want from us?"

"My kind transcend your very understanding. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weakness. You cannot even grasp our existence." There was no mistaken the smugness in Sovereign's reply.

Shepard spat. "You are just a machine, and machines can be broken. Whatever purpose you were created for, you've outlived it. You are obsolete! This time, your kind will be the one facing extinction. Mark my words."

Sovereign did not take threats well. "Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over."

The image of the Reaper winked out of existence, and the next moment a shrill screech comparable to a Banshee's scream pierced through the entire facility. The force of the sound blast was enough to blow out thick ballistic windows. If Shepard had not been wearing her helmet, her eardrums would have been ruptured.

They quickly took the elevator down and held their positions at the entrance. The guards they had attracted were forced to line up in a neat single file on the walkway. Only one or two enemies could attack at the same time without inflicting damage to their own force.

"You are the most reckless, most absurd person I've ever met, Shepard!" Vasir yelled at the Commander as she alternated between slinging out biotic shockwaves and firing her assault rifle at the never ending stream of enemies. "What the hell compelled you to bait a fucking _Reaper_?"

"Why the hell not? It's a fucking Reaper. What could it possibly do to me? Threaten to kill me deader? We were supposed to get their attention, remember? I would call this mission accomplished." Shepard yelled back. Thrumming with energy, she lashed out a warp and followed up with a throw in rapid succession. The resulting biotic explosion knocked a few geth flat on their back. Before the ones lined up further behind could climb over the fallen bodies, Shepard created a singularity a little off to the side of the narrow walkway. This mass effect field yanked a few krogans off their feet and flung them over the protective railing. Once the effect wore off, they unceremoniously plunged to their death.

They held the defensive position for what seemed like hours when in fact it was only minutes. Broken bodies were starting to pile up outside, and the only reason the heap had not blocked off the doorway was due to the steady supply of rocket drones that kept reducing the dead bodies into smaller bits. For the two heavy biotic-based Spectres, Geth troopers and krogan clones were much easier to deal with than the drones. Shepard was sorely tempted to whip out her Omni-tool and energy drain those annoying flyers in front of Vasir, but she thought better of it. The last thing she wanted was for the Shadow Broker to be aware of her tech power and begin to scrutinize her intel for better authenticity. Her cover for her future plans might be compromised if the yagh dug too deep.

Garrus' voice through the helmet comm cut above the noise of gunfire like ice water on a hot summer day. "Archangel to the Normandy. AA guns are disabled. Drop in Red Rover. We're going back for Shadow!"

Joker replied, "roger that. Hurry, Archangel! The dreadnought just took off and pulled a turn that could shear any of our ships in half! It's heading for the Commander! You need to get her out, NOW!"

A grin broke out on Shepard's flushed and sweaty face. The plan had worked beautifully. She interrupted Joker and issued an overriding command. "Belay that! Stick to the plan and head to the rendezvous point instead. Assist Red Rover. We can handle ourselves!"

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Liara all but shouted. Her melodic voice held the same stubborn note of desperation as the time when the Collector attacked the original Normandy. Shepard would never forget that tone. It replayed in her mind in endless loop as she slowly suffocated in the black, all the while wondering if Liara had made it to the escape pod...

No, she could not risk getting the other team trapped here. Her squadmates were more than competent, but they did not have a vanguard's mobility. They needed to start moving now.

"You're not! You are helping me by drawing fire away from my position. Trust me!"

Her reply seemed to be enough to calm Liara down. Wrex, on the other hand, decided to issue her an ultimatum through the comm. "If you die, Shepard, I'm gonna kill you myself!"

Shepard did not have the time to continue on with the banter. She was too busy dodging multiple rockets from drones. Unlike the ground troops, those flyers were not constrained by the walkway. "Time to run! Full speed ahead!" She shouted at Vasir over the loud booms of multiple rockets going off near her location.

They ran like hell. One biotic charge phased them across the walkway. Shepard aimed her charge a bit further than Vasir did and landed herself right inside the small security office where it was positively jam-packed with enemy troops.

"You moron!" Vasir screamed at her from outside the room.

Shepard pulled her fist back and slammed it down on the floor. Her barrier exploded outward in a powerful nova that not only knocked back, but also stripped all the enemies of their shield within the effective radius. Consider the size of the room, that meant every enemy. While her opponents were stunned by the brutal attack, Shepard generated a singularity in the middle of the room and slam down her fist again to detonate a biotic explosion. After the second nova, none of the enemies inside the room were left alive.

Vasir's cover fire took care of the drones on Shepard's back. The asari retreated inside the security office, locked the door behind her, and then proceeded to bite the human's head off. "Whoever taught you how to use biotics should be warped inside out! This goes against every biotic combat theory! You _never_ fucking strip yourself of all barrier in a fight! Are you insane?!"

Kirrahe's status report through the comm channel saved Shepard from an epic chew out. "All defenses in position. Red Rover will hold the line! We are primed and ready!"

Joker urged again. "Hurry up, Commander! It's raining geth out there!"

"You heard him. No time to chat." Shepard took a moment to gather her tattered barrier back to full strength.

Nova was one of those rare biotic attacks used exclusively by human vanguards, the most aggressive biotic fighters of all the races, krogans included. An N7 vanguard was trained with the mantra that "the best defense was a good offense." Every asari who had ever fought alongside her had remarked on the seemingly irresponsible move that went against conventional wisdom that on the battlefield, a biotic without barrier was a dead biotic. It was the very first lesson every asari youngling learnt when they were taught to control their biotics at their mother's knees.

Even the most ruthless asari vanguard would rather charge away to get to a better position than to gamble on an area attack that would stun all surrounding enemies at the expense of one's barrier. It was simply not done. Hit-and-run was the standard military doctrine for asari. Keep-hitting-until-you-are-the-only-one-standing had never made it into their playbook. Shepard had no problem showing Vasir this technique because she knew the older woman would only see it as her weakness, rather than her strength.

Vasir gave her a withering glare that reminded Shepard so much of her grandmother.

Years ago, the school principal had called the elder Shepard in to pick her up after she had got in trouble fighting again. The fourteen-year-old had put the three school bullies in the hospital by breaking their arms, while she suffered a huge migraine from her uncontrolled biotic rampage. She never told the principal that one of the bullies had pulled a knife. It would have only landed her in deeper shit. She did confess to her grandmother about it after they left the principal's office. The "I can't believe you were this stupid" look was the exact same one Vasir was giving her right now.

Shepard pretended not to notice, even though she could literally feel the outrage pouring out of Vasir like a cloud of angry wasps. Her aura sensing ability was only at its infancy. But Vasir was projecting so damn much it was impossible to ignore just how ticked off the asari was. She was pretty sure Vasir was doing that on purpose, too.

The diversion tactic worked in their favour. Shadow met token resistance on their way to the rendezvous point since most of the enemy troops had been summoned to the bomb site to deal with the greater threat. It took them far less time to dash all the way across the facility now that there wasn't an army blocking their path. They made it down to the breeding trench in good time.

Shepard's eyes automatically sought out Liara amidst the chaos of the battlefield. The mere sight of her lover filled her with giddy excitement and injected her with a boost of energy. The very talented Prothean expert already had a group of enemies trapped in a singularity, and was now firing at geth assault drones zipping around the trench. Chaining biotic combo attacks with Liara was something Shepard had done countless times during the Reaper invasion. Without having to stop and strategize, the Commander charged at the group of trapped opponent and detonated the primed targets, sending bodies flying in all directions.

"Hope I didn't make you guys wait too long?" She said, grinning winningly at her squadmates while holding another wave of enemies off with shotgun blasts.

"Jane!" Liara sounded absolutely thrilled to see her.

"Shepard!" Garrus called out in delight.

"'Bout damn time!" Ashley shouted with a rambunctious cheer as she helped the Commander finished off the group of charging krogans.

Vasir charged into the trench and stopped next to the two mariners. "You are one ridiculous human, Shepard!" The asari Spectre sounded a bit winded.

Shepard ignored Vasir's hostile attitude in favour of giving out orders through the comm. "Red Rover, we are coming in. Get ready to pack up. Joker, where is Sovereign?"

"Three more minutes and it's gonna be right on top of us!" Joker replied.

"All hands, on the double!" Shepard shouted, and everyone obeyed without a moment's delay. The Commander herself did not use biotic charge to close the distance. She took it slow and made sure all her squadmates, including Kasumi and Vasir, made it safely into the cargo bay.

"Shadow is home!" Shepard reported to the Normandy's comm channel.

"Archangel is home!" Garrus also reported in.

"Red Rover is home!" Kirrahe announced in the short, clipping tone a salarian typically spoke with. There was a noted tone of elation in his squeaky voice, too.

"Normandy, take off!" Joker announced cheerfully.

The frigate vertically levitated off the ground as the cargo bay door swung up to a tight seal. A fraction of a second later, the ship took off like a bat out of hell.

Sitting on the cargo bay floor in an exhausted heap, Shepard turned on her Omni-tool and synced the display to show the view outside. The sight of the gigantic fireball on Virmire made her grin like an idiot. She hoped the nuke had set Saren's pants on fire.

x-x-x

Though the Normandy's med bay was way more crowded than it had ever been, the general mood on the ship was jubilant. Not one soldier had died. For a risky operation of this calibre, it was unheard of.

A large part of this was due to the combined efforts of XO Pressly and Dr. Chakwas. The two of them had organized the non-combatants on board to form a medical response team. The moment a soldier was down, the team rushed in and transported the injured combatant up to the med bay to receive immediate treatment. Without this, two of the salarians would have died from internal bleeding when a rocket went through the crate they were hiding behind.

After the battle, Shepard had gone straight to the med bay to check on the wounded. Dr. Chakwas was still too busy to chat, but she gave the Commander a quick run down as she worked over a salarian with burnt hands.

"Mostly flesh wounds. Blood loss, a few broken bones, some mild to moderate concussions, a couple blown eardrums, and a lot of burns. Other than scars, there was nothing permanent. The most serious trauma was from a rocket launcher. That got a bit messy. Thank goodness most people on board know some first aid, otherwise I would've been swamped. We will need to transfer them to Huerta Memorial when we get back to the Citadel, but frankly, I am amazed nobody died." The older woman finished patching up the wounded salarian and gave him permission to leave.

Shepard gave the doctor an affectionate smile. "No one died because you are the best, Doc."

"No, that would be because you have a terminal case of savior complex, Shepard. I'm afraid it might be fatal." Vasir commented in an acerbic tone. The senior Spectre ambled towards her junior colleague, scanned her with a critical eye, and leaned back against the bulkhead. "How's your head?" She asked, concern clearly showing on her tattooed face.

Vasir's question caught her completely off guard. Out of reflex, Shepard gave a candid response without thinking, "like an axe is lodged in it," and immediately regretted doing so.

Dr. Chakwas was in her face in a flash, examining her with a portable medi-tool. "Your vitals are normal. No concussion, no internal bleeding... some unusual brain activity. What happened, Commander?"

Vasir replied before Shepard could get a word out. "Miss No-barrier here decided to explore the new frontier of stupidity and found herself in Andromeda."

"Hey!" Shepard protested. "First of all, ow! That was mean! Secondly, it was a calculated risk. Last, but not least, my barrier is just fine, thank you very much."

Dr. Chakwas seemed irritated by the non-answer. "I can give you some painkillers for the headache, but you still haven't answered my question yet."

"We found a Prothean beacon in Saren's private lab, and I, umm, interfaced with it." Shepard explained, scratching the back of her neck while looking away from the doctor's stern gaze.

The older woman palmed her forehead, stunned speechless for a minute, before she finally found her voice. "Let me get this straight; last time you accidentally stumbled across a beacon on Eden Prime, you were knocked out for over a day. This time, while in a middle of an extremely time sensitive mission, you decided to voluntarily interface with another beacon. Did I miss anything?"

"When you put it that way…" Shepard trailed off. What could she possibly say? She knew she would be fine from prior experience, but that was hardly an excuse she could use. From a bystander's point of view, her decision to access the beacon came off as quite the risky gamble if not downright irresponsible. "It's a working Prothean beacon. I couldn't just let it be destroyed. It contained critical information pertaining to my mission to stop Saren." Unable to think of a better justification for her action, Shepard fell back on the tried and true "mission trumps all" defense.

Dr. Chakwas clicked her tongue in clear disapproval. "And what good would that information be if it had killed you? You have people who care deeply for you, Commander. Please do take better care of yourself."

Shepard winced. Liara was going to be so mad at her when she found out. "I should go get cleaned up." She said, and not so gracefully attempted to escape.

"Don't forget your painkillers." Dr. Chakwas reminded her.

"Right, thanks." Shepard obediently went back to the physician to get her medication, before stealthily slipping away while the doctor's back was turned.

Vasir followed her out to her weapon locker on the crew deck. "So what was in that beacon?" The senior Spectre asked.

The beacon had been a hub. Through it, Shepard had peeked into the entirety of a once great empire that spanned the whole galaxy. Whatever the Crucible had done to her to send her back through the beacon on Eden Prime, it made her far more attuned to this psychic based Prothean communication device than a human had any right to be. One mental touch with a functional beacon, and every single message that had ever been transmitted through this particular device was downloaded into her head.

Saren must have relocated the priceless relic to Virmire for safe keeping at some point in time. The first message sent through the device was a confirmation of the beacon's successful activation on Eletania - a planet that used to be an important Prothean world famed for cutting edge scientific research, now a level one toxic world infested with shit-slinging pyjaks. Since its activation, the beacon had seen a steady flow of information for almost three thousand years, a witness to the glorious height of the Prothean empire, until the Reapers had come to extinguish their civilization. As soon as the Protheans realized that the Reapers could locate even the most isolated pockets of populations by tracking the beacon's unique signals, all communications ceased.

The very last message received by the beacon had been a distress call originating from Ilos, three hundreds years after the beginning of the Reaper invasion. It was also the only message her human mind could comprehend the last time around.

Shepard briefly wondered how much of herself could still be considered human. Somewhere between thirty to fifty percent of her physical body had been fitted with cybernetics and bio-synthetic materials, whereas her mind had been through the meat grinder enough times, it felt like an eventuality before she ended up locked in a padded room.

"There was way too much information all at once. I'll need time to process it." Shepard settled for an evasive answer. The pounding inside her head had gotten steadily worse. Maybe after a hot shower, some food, and a nap, she would feel well enough to have this talk. "I'll see you at debrief in four hours," she said, rubbing her temple tiredly. "For now, I would prefer to clean up and lie down in a dark room."

Vasir relented. "Fine, I can wait. We'll talk later." She said, and left her alone.

x-x-x

A/N: That's it for Virmire. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this mission as much as I enjoyed writing it. Next up, the aftermath of the Virmire mission.


	12. I-12: You Can't Take the Sky from Me

Book I - Chapter 12: You Can't Take the Sky from Me

The two Spectres stood at the front of the conference room when Liara and the rest of the squad joined in for the debrief. Since Captain Kirrahe and Lieutenant Ganto Imness were both invited for this meeting, that meant all the seats were taken. Instead of sitting at her customary seat across from Shepard, Liara sat at her lover's usual spot. This possessive gesture earned her a raised eyebrow from Ashley, but a indulgent smile from the Commander herself.

It seemed the short rest had returned some colour to Shepard's cheeks, Liara thought. When she had come back to their cabin from the mess hall earlier, she had found the Commander already passed out in an unconscious heap, her short red hair still damp from the shower. Shepard's lightly freckled face had been a shade paler than usual, a furrow between her brows. Liara had followed her impulse, and stripped down to join her lover in bed. The physical contact had soothed the sleeping woman somewhat. Even while unconscious, Shepard must have sensed a warm, naked body pressing up against her side. She had rolled over until she was half on top of Liara, and nuzzled against her throat, all without waking. They had napped together until Shepard's Omni-tool started beeping.

Tali was oblivious of the byplay. The young quarian spotted Liara and simply sat down next to her best friend. "I can't wait to hear all about it. This mission was very exciting."

"If by 'exciting,' you meant 'dangerous,' then yes. It was very exciting." Liara replied, shaking her head at Tali's antics.

How drastically things had changed in four short months! Before she had met Shepard, Liara had been so terrified by a few geth and a krogan, she had accidentally locked herself inside a Prothean security device in a panic just to get away from them. Now, she was part of the successful infiltration unit that had outwitted a legion of geth and krogans inside their own base. She could scarcely believe this transformation herself. This was all made possible because of Shepard's confidence in her.

The debrief began with Captain Kirrahe thanking the Normandy crew for the success of the mission. He also updated everyone on his men's recovery. The two STG operatives who had been injured by rocket were in stable condition. They would need to be transferred to Huerta Memorial for a more comprehensive reconstructive surgery to reattach missing limbs and regrow organ grafts. There was only so much Dr. Chakwas could do with limited resources on a warship.

The mood of the debrief started out jubilant because of the zero casualty rate, but it quickly turned dark when Lieutenant Ganto Imness began to recount what exactly had been done to the captured salarians.

"The rate of mental deterioration is not consistent across the board. Saren's scientists would inject a variety of drugs to alter the test subject's' mental state, before taking them to the dreadnought to be indoctrinated. One symptom was universal - complaint of incessant whispering inside one's head. For days, I sat in my cell and watched my men slowly being hollowed out. They released the ones who were brainwashed into Saren's most fervent zealots and allowed them to join their ranks. The rest were locked up like animals. 'For comparison purpose,' they said. They were delighted to have suitable subjects to study this downward spiral to insanity. A bullet to the head would have been kinder. I cannot think of a greater evil than indoctrination." Ganto said quietly.

Evil. There truly was no better way to describe this atrocity, Liara thought. From the look on everyone's faces, they all agreed.

Shepard massaged her forehead with a deep exhale. "From what we've learnt, Saren did not create the technology to indoctrinate others. At some point in time, he came across Sovereign and discovered the means to do so. Here is the uncomfortable question; is Saren indoctrinated as well? Does it matter?"

Captain Kirrahe was taken aback. "How could Saren indoctrinate himself? That does not make any sense."

The two Spectres exchanged a grimace.

"Really? You've got to be kidding me." Shepard was annoyed, to say the least. Liara could tell from the way her flinty green eyes narrowed that the woman was trying very hard to keep a tight lid over her boiling temper. "The Council didn't provide you with any intel on Reapers at all?"

"Dr. T'Soni briefly mentioned that Sovereign is a Reaper ship. That is all I know." Kirrahe replied.

Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose. Even Vasir looked pained by this borderline criminal neglect. After a moment of pause to cool her head, Shepard bagan. "Reapers are a hyper advanced race of sentient machines that caused the Prothean extinction 50,000 years ago. Sovereign, Saren's dreadnought previously thought to have been a Reaper ship, was in fact, an actual Reaper. Right now, there is a legion of them hiding in dark space, waiting for Saren to find a shortcut to hasten their return, instead of having to rely on good old fashioned FTL travel. Since Eden Prime, we've been made aware of a Reaper's capability to indoctrinate and to mutate organics into half-synthetic Husks. Your unit should never have been sent into Saren's base without this critical information."

Kirrahe's jaw dropped. "This is… this is impossible."

"Which part? That there is an ancient machine race hell bent on exterminating all advanced organic life every 50,000 years? That even if we were to stop Saren, the Reapers will still invade our galaxy in numbers? That the Council would knowingly send your unit into enemy territory without briefing you on their capabilities? Or that the Council would be in full denial mode when they were confronted with the biggest crisis this galaxy could possibly face?" Shepard asked in an offhanded manner.

"Well," Kirrahe blinked rapidly. "All of it."

Shepard barked out a laugh. "Fine. Think of it this way - weight the cost of believing my warning versus not believing my warning, and then tell me which one you can afford to pay."

"Fair enough. I see your point." Kirrahe relented.

Vasir cut in. "You said you'll tell us about the beacon at the debrief, Shepard. Now talk."

Shepard sighed and crossed her arms. "Right. We discovered a functional Prothean beacon inside Saren's private lab."

"By the Goddess!" Liara blurted out. All the blood drained out of her face when the realization clobbered her over the head. "And we blew it up!" Her resentment towards the Council skyrocketed in an instant. "If the Council had only sent us the fleet we requested in the first place! This is a tragic loss that could have been easily prevented if they would have just _listened_ instead of dismissing your concerns out of spite! So much knowledge, so many answers, our galaxy's shared heritage, lost! This is an outrage!"

Shepard cleared her throat. Liara clamped her mouth shut at the sound. Her cheeks burned when she noticed everyone was staring at her ranting and raving like a lunatic. "Liara, I think you'll be less upset if you let me finish." The Commander commented with an amused smirk.

Liara stammered out a quick apology. Just when she thought she had grown out of the most socially awkward phase, there she went and had gone all Prothean nerd in public again. Thank the Goddess the Commander was not offended. Were she military, she would have been reprimanded for her inappropriate outburst.

"As I was saying, we discovered a working beacon in Saren's possession. Understanding the distinct possibility that the device might contain critical information regarding the Conduit, I decided to access the beacon."

Liara's brows shot up in surprise. Of course! Where else would Saren have learnt of the Conduit if not from a Prothean beacon?

Sitting next to her, Kaidan sucked in his breath in shock while Ashley let out an expletive. Liara turned to regard the two Alliance marines in confusion.

"Commander, haven't you done enough for the Council already? You could've died! No information is worth your life." Ashley spoke vehemently.

"What do you mean by that?" Liara asked in alarm, her eyes flittered between the Gunnery Chief and the Commander.

Kaidan gave Shepard a questioning look. Then his eyes darted in Vasir's direction for a second before settling back to the Commander. He waited until Shepard gave him a nod as permission, and answered, "the beacon on Eden Prime knocked the Commander out for over a day. The same thing could have happened again on Virmire."

"... Except, if she were rendered unconscious on Virmire, it would have been nigh impossible for us to safely retrieve her back to the Normandy. Dear Goddess…" Liara was all of a sudden appalled and furious at the woman. "You knew the risk, and you did it anyway!" She could not keep the accusatory tone out of her voice.

"Yes. And I would do it again if required." Shepard stated with conviction.

Liara clenched her teeth together to prevent further arguments from slipping through her lips. There was no look of apology, not a trace of doubt inside her green eyes. Shepard was well aware of the danger, still she made the difficult choice to access the beacon because she deemed it necessary. Liara hated it, but the least she could do was to support Shepard, not questioning her judgement in public.

"Damn, Shepard. I hope whatever was inside that beacon was worth the gamble. I would have been very disappointed if some Prothean mumbo jumbo killed you dead. It wouldn't have been a very dignified death." Wrex said gravely.

"Enough dawdling. Just tell us what was in that beacon before I die of old age." Vasir demanded impertinently.

"Three thousand year's worth of daily communication between the research colony on Eletania and the rest of the Prothean empire." Shepard stated simply.

The answer stunned the entire room into complete silence.

"What?!" Vasir was the first to regain her voice.

Shepard elaborated patiently, "the Protheans are psychometric. One branch of technology we are still light years behind them in is communication. One touch was all it took for Protheans to exchange complex ideas. The beacons were used as communication and data storage devices. The one on Virmire in particular, was originally activated on Eletania three thousand years before the Reaper invasion started. The very last message this beacon received was a distress call three hundred years after the beginning of the war."

"What?!" Vasir exclaimed in disbelief again.

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Let me simplify this for you - I have the Prothean Cipher as well as three thousand years worth of Prothean daily communication crammed inside my skull. I am a walking, talking Prothean relic who probably knows more about the Prothean civilization than an actual Prothean, whose lifespan was around two hundred and fifty years."

Vasir continued to stare at the Commander as if she were stark raving mad.

"And Vasir, please tell the grabby Matriarchy to bugger off. I refuse to meld with some random people they send over. Kindly remind them that a person's mind is sacrosanct. If they want to force my hand, the truth will come out. I promise you they won't like it. In fact, tell them to come clean on their own terms. The Reapers are coming. The galaxy does not have decades for them to contemplate their long view. The asari was chosen amongst many to lead the war against the Reapers in this cycle for a reason. If they refuse to step up, Thessia will fall."

"What the _fuck_ are you talking about? You're speaking complete nonsense!" Vasir exploded.

Shepard scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Ah, yes, you wouldn't have known. You're a matron and a Spectre; they _never_ would have told you. In any case, just repeat what I said to Councillor Tevos in private. My guess is she would understand."

Liara's brain finally rebooted. "You've a walking, talking Prothean relic." She repeated in a daze.

 _Think of the possibilities! People would kill to get access to the sheer wealth of information stored inside Shepard's head!_

The grin on Shepard's face was positively blinding. "Easy there, Dr. T'Soni. You'll get the chance to have an in depth study later."

Liara sputtered at the innuendo.

"What did the beacon have on the Conduit, then?" Vasir asked.

"The Conduit was a top secret research project the Protheans had been working on for a while. There was very little information about it since it was classified. However, there were a few communications about sending top scientists to work on the project. The very last message I was talking about earlier was in fact, sent from the headquarter of the Conduit project. Liara, I think you will be very interested to find out where the Conduit is."

"Ilos!" Liara bolted up from her seat. Her eyes were wild and her heart was hammering loudly inside her chest. In her excitement, she all but shouted, "the Conduit is on Ilos!"

Shepard beamed at her. "This proves you are indeed the best Prothean expert, Liara. You were right about the cycle of extinction, and you are right about the Conduit again. The Conduit is on Ilos. How did you know that?"

"There were references of Ilos found in several Prothean ruins, but they were all second hand accounts. The lost world of Ilos was always referred to as one of the most significant sites for research and development. Top scientists around the galaxy vied for the privilege to be invited to work there. Since the Conduit project was supposed to be cutting edge and top secret, it made perfect sense it should be on Ilos. And the secrecy of a classified research project would also explain why there was very little first hand accounts on Ilos, or on the Conduit… The Mu relay! We can reach Ilos through the Mu relay! That's the only way to get to Ilos… Oh, by the Goddess! We found Ilos!"

Liara's mind was spinning at top speed. The Mu relay had been lost for thousands of years, long before the asari found the Citadel. Ilos should still be completely unexplored. An entire world of pristine Prothean ruins, the most significant, the most advanced world of the Prothean empire that spanned the galaxy…!

"And if Saren gets his talons on the Conduit before we do, we're going to be as dead as the Protheans." Garrus said. His words worked as well as a bucket of cold water dumped on her head.

Wrex was eager to get down to the action. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go to Ilos and kill that skullface bastard. Problem solved."

"Forget it!" Tali, of all people, interrupted Wrex. "The Mu relay is inside the Terminus systems. Alliance ships are not welcomed there. Neither are Spectres."

Garrus disagreed with Tali. "The Conduit is on Ilos. That's where Saren's heading. This is a race against time. We need to find the Conduit before he does."

Vasir shook her head. "Saren would have his entire fleet orbiting Ilos. It would be more than a couple geth dropships. Whatever that's on Ilos will make Virmire look like a leisurely stroll in the Presidium. You'll never make it on your own without reinforcements. We must alert the Council. After Virmire, they would not deny your request again."

"Exactly. They would have to be insane to ignore your warning this time." Kirrahe agreed with Vasir.

"Is that what you think?" Shepard gave a mirthless chuckle. "You think my warning alone is sufficient to convince the Council to send a fleet into the Terminus systems?"

"Shepard." Vasir's voice was quiet and deliberate. "It would not be just _your_ words. I was there with you on Virmire the whole time. In this regard, you have my complete support. Isn't this why you let me on your ship in the first place? I'm certain Captain Kirrahe would also agree to lend you his support. You and the Normandy crew saved his unit. The Council might hold a grudge against your induction into the Spectre rank, but they would not be so belligerent to disregard perfectly sound advice. Saren needs to be stopped. Sending a Council fleet might trigger some aggression from warlords residing in the Terminus systems, but letting him obtain the Conduit is a far greater danger. At the very least, the Council will see the urgency to mobilize a fleet to destroy Sovereign. That machine is pure evil."

"I hope you're right." Shepard sighed, and shook her head wistfully. "For all of our sake, I hope you're right. That's it for the debrief. Everyone, dismissed. Vasir, please stay. We're going to give the Council a call."

x-x-x

The report to the Council went about as well as last time, in the Commander's opinion. Which was to say, it was a complete disaster.

As per usual, Tevos was the first to speak. "Commander Shepard. I'm pleased to see your mission on Virmire was a success." The asari Councillor sounded genuinely satisfied by the result.

"Saren was formidable enough without an army of _krogans_ serving under him." Sparatus pronounced the word "krogans" with enough distain, he made it sounded like a swear word.

Shepard felt a burning need to correct the self-important turian. There was something about Sparatus that always seemed to rub her the wrong way. "The krogan clones, the geth, the indoctrinated salarian captives, if not Saren himself, all serve Sovereign, a Reaper. I believe I've made it perfectly clear in my written report I sent out an hour ago."

"Yes, the Reapers." Valern said with disapproval clear in his clipping voice. "We saw the mention of this in your report. Sovereign, a sentient machine, a true artificial intelligence. This news is quite alarming… if it turns out to be accurate."

"If it turns out to be accurate." Shepard repeated dumbly. "You sent me out to Virmire to investigate. I have investigated. And now you doubt the validity of the evidences I've gathered. Why send _me_ there in the first place if you're going to disregard everything I find? The Reapers are real. The indoctrination and the Husks are the result of Reaper tech. I have presented you with irrefutable proof. What more do you want from me?"

"The 'proof' you spoke of is hardly irrefutable, Shepard." Sparatus drawled out. "The visions you saw from the beacon were just that, visions."

Shepard took a deep breath and counted to ten, absently noting that she had been doing so a lot every time she had to speak with the Council. "They are not mere visions. They are reliable intel. I did mention that I have gained three thousand years' worth of Prothean knowledge through the beacon. This is not made up of my own imagination."

Tevos looked almost apologetic for what she had to say. "Commander, I did not wish to bring this up because I thought it might embarrass you. But please, the human brain is simply not capable of handling this much information." The unspoken part was that if an asari could not, there was no way a human could.

"I am not a typical human." Shepard replied with her face entirely void of expression. "I've deduced the location of the Conduit through clues gleaned from the beacon. I can assure you, Councillor, my brain can handle it. Our Prothean expert confirmed my findings."

"You mean young Dr. T'Soni, Matriarch Benezia's only daughter." Valern shook his head. "Maybe you should have picked a better Prothean expert as your consultant. Dr. T'Soni is, there is no way to put it gently, a laughing stock in the Prothean academia circle. I would not put too much faith in her work."

Now Shepard was truly insulted. With every last drop of her self control, she somehow managed not to erupt in a fountain of anger and resentment. Instead, she would settle for cold vindication. "Dr. T'Soni is not on trial here. If you don't mind, I would prefer to move away from this topic."

"Very well, please continue." Tevos said amiably.

"You may choose to disregard my words, but I have eyewitness accounts. My squadmate not only witnessed, but also participated in the exchange I had with Sovereign. The Reapers are coming in numbers soon, with or without Saren's help. Denying it won't make the problem disappear."

Sparatus's mandible flared in obvious irritation. "Your squadmates are either Alliance soldiers or a bunch of misfits you gathered. They are going to say whatever you want them to say. They are hardly reliable eyewitnesses. If you've got nothing better to report to the Council, I think we're done here."

Shepard let a thin smile spread across her face; she had been waiting for this. "Spectre Vasir, if you don't mind?"

Vasir stepped into the view and gave the three Councillors a polite nod. "Councillors. I must confess it is very… _enlightening_ to witness my newest colleague's debrief. It greatly resembles school yard hazing, if I care to draw the comparison."

The mono colour of the holo image was not of the best quality, but Shepard swore she saw the colour drained from Tevos' face. "What are you doing on the Normandy?"

Vasir tilted her head in a show of puzzlement. "Commander Shepard asked me to assist her with the Virmire mission. I accepted."

Realization dawned on the other two Councillors' faces. "You were Shepard's squadmate on Virmire?!" Sparatus exclaimed, before whipping his head toward Shepard and accused, "I knew you couldn't have done this on your own! You needed another Spectre to carry you through your own mission."

"No one could have done this alone. I never claimed to have done the impossible. My entire crew pulled their weight to make sure not one man was left behind. ' _Whatever it takes_ ' included asking for help when I needed it. I am not ashamed to admit I know my own limit." Shepard replied shrewdly.

"Councillor Sparatus," Vasir's frigid voice cut in before the turian could go off again. "If you think back to the report you've read, you would notice Commander Shepard was the one in command for the entire duration of the mission. She came up with the plan to out maneuver a great number of enemy troops and executed the plan to perfection. I merely lended her firepower. In hindsight, she could have pulled off this daring operation all on her own, if she had wished to do so." The asari gave her a coy sideway glance and smirked, "my presence was her insurance policy. I am dismayed to see that I am needed at all."

Valern's eyes twitched spasmodically as he worked through the implications in his mind. The stress he was suffering from made his already curt tone extra snippy. "Spectre Vasir, I assume you _agree_ to this insanity Commander Shepard has been spouting? Reapers? Indoctrination? The beacon? Cycle of Extinction? Everything?"

"Well, I wouldn't say _everything_." Vasir drew out her voice slowly in a clear contrast to they way Valern spoke. "Her biotic barrier definitely requires more work, despite her claim to the contrary. Her bravery troded on foolishness on many occasions. Above all, her most glaring shortcoming that I completely disapprove of was her relentless drive to do the right thing, even at great personal cost without obvious benefits. As a simple soldier, her lack of grace and finesse was appalling to asari sensibility. I couldn't say I agree with any of that insanity."

Shepard wasn't sure if Vasir had just complimented her, or insulted her. She supposed this was as close to a positive review as she could've hoped for from the senior Spectre.

Tevos stood stock still. "So the Reapers are no mere stories." The woman's voice sank low to a murmur. With a jolt, she flinched and stared at Shepard in astonishment. "You _have_ taken all the data from the beacon into your mind..."

"Yes, I have. Three thousand years worth of daily communique, public service announcements, shipping manifests, private exchanges. Any and all communications that went through that particular beacon, ranging from cooking recipes to academic discussion. Literature, music, history, astrometric coordinates, geological surveys, _blueprints_. All this information was downloaded into my brain in perfect clarity."

This was not a bluff. The beacon had used her brain as a simple hard drive to store all that information, similar to how it had downloaded her future self into her younger body before merging the two. The scientific and technological stuff was way over her head, but she didn't have to understand them. Memorization did not equate to comprehension. Shepard was going to milk this happy coincidence for all it was worth.

Shepard had learnt the lesson the krogans had paid dearly for - she refused to be used by the Council as a very big gun with none of the respect she deserved. If she was to have any sway over the Council, she first had to be treated as an equal at least. And the only currency the Council traded on was political clout, which she now had in spades. The writing on the wall was clear - play nice, and this living beacon might cooperate and divulge some lost Prothean knowledge to you.

It seemed both Tevos and Valern had gotten the message loud and clear. Vasir's testimony was only a hair away from being an actual endorsement the arrogant asari was capable of giving.

Sparatus, on the other hand, was livid. "This... this _utter absurdity_ needs to end right this instant! Ask any reputable paleo-historian and they will tell you the Protheans destroyed themselves in a galaxy wide civil war! There are no Reapers! Obviously the beacon has addled your mind, Shepard. And speaking of which, did you really think I was going to overlook the fact that you intentionally lied to the Council on the Eden Prime report? Your recklessness led to the destruction of the beacon on Eden Prime, and you did the same thing again on Virmire. Now you want us to believe you have the entire content of the beacon _memorized_? Do you take us for fools?"

Shepard remained aloof under fire. "Saren was still a Spectre with full Council support when I submitted the Eden Prime report. The deception was made to gain a tactical advantage over the rogue Spectre. As a military man yourself, I'm sure you can see why it was necessary to deprive him of this intel. 'All warfare is deception,' Councillor. As for the rest of your accusations... Well, you are entitled to your own opinions. There is no obligation for you to believe anything I have to say. If you think there are no Reapers, then you are free to go about your days unburdened by the knowledge that civilization as we know it is about to end in a short few years. If you think I'm lying about the beacon, then by all means continue to treat me as a joke. I'm used to it. Step up and prepare for the invasion or stand aside and let someone else do the unpleasant job. Your choice."

"How dare you! You pompous little…!"

"That's enough!" Tevos raised her voice before Sparatus had the chance to finish that sentence. "Need I remind you two this is a Council meeting, not a screaming nursery?" She gave Shepard and Sparatus both a stern glare, and continued, "one thing we are all in agreement with, is that Saren must be stopped. Report back to the Citadel, Commander. We can discuss details in person." She said, and disconnected the call.

Shepard let out a long suffering sigh.

"That could have gone better." Vasir deadpanned.

Shepard gave the asari a thoughtful frown. "I'm starting to have second thoughts. Perhaps I've made a mistake when I decided to inform the Council of the beacon. So far it only seems to discredit me."

"Don't try to play games with me, Shepard. I'm centuries ahead of you." Vasir clicked her tongue. "You knew exactly what you did. You had all the Councillors caught between a rock and a hard place. Because of that beacon in your head, they couldn't dismiss your warning in one breath and then accept precious Prothean knowledge in the next. Inelegant, but it worked."

"I certainly could not have planned for this to happen. This opportunity fell on my lap, so I took it and ran. Were you in my shoes, wouldn't you have done the same?"

Vasir scoffed at the Commander. "Certainly not in the same brutish manner."

"Alright, I'll bite. What would you have done then?" Shepard was very keen to find out more about Vasir's thought process.

"Simple. I would have baited them with a trail of tasty morsels, and then eventually have them eat out of my hand. You treated the Councillors as if they were sensible adults who can be reasoned with. That's what you did wrong. You should've treated them like wild varren. Bribe them with treats and make them think you're harmless. Once you have them house trained, that's when you neuter them. Next time, remember to give them a way out. Just make it so that it leads to where you want them to go."

"That is… very insightful." Shepard praised. She would not have thought to handle the Council this way. But Vasir had a very good point. For as long as she remembered, she had been trying to get the Council to agree with her. She should have been trying to get the Council to do what she wanted them to do instead. Why bother wasting time to convince them that the Reapers were real, as long as she had them preparing for an invasion? When the Reapers showed up, they would be well positioned for a siege while seeing for themselves that she was right the whole time.

Vasir's advice might have just saved them all.

"Thank you, Vasir. For everything. I won't forget this." Shepard lowered her head in a bow of gratitude.

"Finally, some manners." Vasir laughed, and returned with a gracious nod. "It has been a pleasure working with you, Spectre."

x-x-x

After the Council meeting, Shepard retreated into her cabin to make further preparations for Ilos. Despite Vasir and Kirrahe's optimism, Shepard had first hand experience what the Council was most likely to do with the intel they gathered on Virmire. Forming a blockade to protect Citadel space would be the Council's limit of mobilizing the fleet. In her opinion, this move demonstrated the Council's sheer arrogance and utter ignorance to the horror that was to come.

Both the salarian and the asari preached against open warfare. Their military doctrine revolved around sabotage and guerrilla tactics. Valern and Tevos would most likely vote against sending in the fleet. Sparatus was a non entity in Shepard's mind. Regardless of what conventional turian practicality might say about Saren's impending attack, Sparatus hated the upstart human Spectre too much to do listen to her, if only out of spite.

Short of an open declaration of war, the Council would never move its fleet into the Terminus systems, not under the current climate. It would have been simpler if this lawless region were only inhabited by slavers and drug lords. Numerous powerful and wealthy corporations took advantage of the lawless nature in this space and made it their base of operation. The Terminus systems was in essence, a separate realm onto itself. Thought of as a loose conglomerate of a thousand different Noverias on steroids, each world a separate fiefdom, and one might gain a faint idea of what the region was like. Those who had the influence and credits to take control, became their own lord and master in the little niche they carved out for themselves. Aria T'Loak was well within her right to call herself Queen. Because in practice, she was one.

Anarchy, the ultimate freedom.

Each of the Council races had their own use for a little lawlessness inside the Terminus systems once in awhile. The most the Council would do was send in spies to monitor the ever developing situations that moved and evolved like a living organism. Every time the Council stressed the delicate nature of this region, they weren't talking about the warlords. What they really meant was that they were too invested to step on these well-connected political titans' toes.

Shepard sent out three heavily encrypted messages. One to the Consort, one to Shiala, and the last one to her mother.

With or without the fleet, Shepard was going to Ilos. She needed that overriding code from Vigil, otherwise they were all fucked.

"You know, even though my aura sensing ability sucks, I can still feel you staring holes in the back of my head, Liara." Shepard said to the maiden sitting at the meeting table. She shut down her computer and turned around to look at her with a knowing grin. "Go ahead. Ask me already."

Liara squirmed uncomfortably in her chair.

"Hanar were either boiled or fried. Salarian livers were usually served raw while they were still alive. Apparently their fear would add a kick to the taste."

Liara's mouth fell open.

"Cooking recipes." Shepard said. "There are some really gross stuff. Don't ask me what they taste like."

The Prothean expert grimaced. "I'm sorry, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm only interested in you to get inside your head. You are not a convenient Prothean artifact I get to study to satisfy my own curiosity."

Shepard snorted. "And I don't want you to think I'm only interested in you to get inside your pants. You are not a convenient sex object for me to sate my own urges."

Liara couldn't help but giggle at the comparison. "Touché."

"Come here." Shepard moved to the bed and patted the spot next to her. They cuddled with their backs rested against the headboard. "How about this; let's play a human game called 'trivia.' Instead of you asking me endless questions, you get to tell me what you know about Protheans according to the topic I give you. I'll tell you whether you answer it correctly. Just so you are aware, I don't claim to know everything."

"That does sound very interesting. Alright, I'll play."

Shepard began with an easy topic. "Physiology."

"Protheans had four eyes. This is probably the reason the batarians consider themselves superior to two-eyed races. Protheans had red blood, like humans do. They considered the colour red to be a warrior's colour." Liara said, looking quite confident with her answer.

"Correct. They also had dual pupils in each eye, and they could perceive a wide spectrum of light. Females would move those eyes in specific patterns to begin foreplay. They also had three pairs of nostrils. The Protheans were evolved from hunters. Their senses were extremely sharp. One touch would be all it took to exchange complex idea, like learning a new language. They had quad strand DNA that was resistant to low level radiation."

Liara squealed in excitement. "I didn't know about the pupils or the foreplay! Tell me more, please? It sounds fascinating!"

Shepard laughed so hard, she was rolling around in bed while holding her stomach with both arms.

"Hey, stop that. You are not trying to trick me, are you?" Liara seemed quite put out by her antics.

"No, no, of course not. I'm just laughing because, well. Of all the things to ask me, you want to know about Prothean _foreplay_."

Liara crossed her arms, looking slightly affronted by Shepard's reply. "Very little data survived the purge. I'm an archaeologist. I'm interested in their culture as a whole, not just their technology. Courtship is an important part of any culture; it intimately ties to how a society organizes itself. It highlights their value system, politics, religion, just to name a few. So yes, I am very interested in Prothean _foreplay_."

Shepard straightened up and smoothed out her face in exchange for a more somber expression before she began to speak in a rhythmic tone in a language that did not automatically translate through the standard implant. However, since she gave Liara the Cipher through the meld a while back, she knew the archaeologist could understand it perfectly.

It was a love poem. A young warrior of twenty, recently received his helmet of adulthood, was struck senseless by a sublime foreign beauty he met in his travels. The poem described in meticulous detail how the female's two pairs of eyes would tangle with his own gaze while the two engaged in a friendly war game to test each other's intellect. The female won all three games. Unable to impress, the warrior left in dejection and shame. His mind thus forever haunted by those haughty eyes.

"It's a classic. It served to warn younglings to hone their intellect so they wouldn't repeat the same mistake. With their ability to learn new skills quickly, it was especially important for the Prothean youth to know how to apply them, as supposed to hoarding knowledge for knowledge's sake. Intangible qualities that were not transferrable - charisma, intelligence, leadership, bravery, loyalty, physical fitness, and biotic proficiency - were therefore highly valued by the Protheans." Shepard added the helpful commentary after reciting the poem.

Liara's reply to the explanation was to grab the woman's face with both hands, and crush their lips together in a devouring kiss.

When they finally broke for air, Shepard muttered breathlessly, "I suppose talking Prothean is _your_ idea of foreplay?"

"I honestly don't care what's inside your head at the moment. I really need to get inside your pants right now."

Shepard laughed. "I shudder to think what you would do if you ever meet a flesh and blood Prothean. It's a good thing they're extinct. Otherwise I might have a hard time holding on to you."

Liara wrinkle her nose. "No, thank you. Four eyes and six _nostrils_ is a bit… I don't mean to sound prejudiced, but I prefer athletic human females with deep eyes and sensitive souls."

Shepard's green eyes twinkled madly. "Is that right? Does that mean you find our Gunnery Chief attractive?"

"You are incorrigible." Liara lightly smacked Shepard's shoulder with a pout. "And you are wearing entirely too much clothes."

"I didn't hear a no." Shepard teased as she stripped.

Liara made the most innocent doe-eye at the Commander. "That's because I did not say so. I do appreciate the aesthetics. Chief Williams is very well put together."

Shepard's eyes went round at that information.

Liara put a hand over her mouth to stay the hilarity from overtaking her. "The look on your face…"

"You were making fun of me!" Shepard growled playfully and pounced at her lover. There were no more talk of Protheans or anyone else for the rest of the night.

x-x-x

During the Reaper invasion, Udina had used all of his political pull to enact unpopular wartime measures in order to pour an enormous amount of resources into the war efforts. The man might be a wily politician who would not blink to stab an ally in the back to get ahead, but in a twisted way, Shepard actually respected him. Regardless of his political leaning or his character, Udina formed an alliance with Cerberus out of desperation; his homeworld was in flames, his people were dying by the millions, while the rest of the galaxy refused to lift a finger to help. Who else could he have possibly turned to?

The Commander herself made the same deal with Cerberus during the mass human colonist abductions. She allowed herself to be abused, her good name to be vilified in order to gain access to a terrorist organization's immense resources. Hell, she paid for it by way of getting locked up behind bars for six months, all because she refused to do nothing when innocent colonists were abducted to be rendered down to goop by the thousands. There were no difference between what she did and what Udina tried but failed to do.

They made a bargain with the devil, and the devil always came for his due. Through herself, Cerberus got their hands on Collector tech. It was a horrible thing to contemplate, but sometimes Shepard suspected that more lives were lost because of her cooperation with Cerberus to take down the Collectors than if she had just let the Reaper's slave servants have free reign. Those poor humans living in unfortified colonies were a lost cause anyway when the Reapers cut a bloody swath through the region.

Without Collector tech, Cerberus would have never climbed so fast in power. Without the Hero of Elysium's " _endorsement"_ by association, the terrorist group would have never swelled so rapidly in rank. Cerberus' active sabotage to the galaxy's war efforts had caused more death and suffering than she had managed to save from the Collectors.

She would never repeat this mistake again.

Shepard brought along Ashley and Kaidan when she answered the Council's summon in the Chamber. Vasir, Kirrahe, and Udina were also present for this meeting. Each one of them who had bled with her on Virmire were utterly struck dumb when they heard what the Council had planned to do to counter Saren's force.

"A... blockade?" Shepard summarized the Council's strategy succinctly.

"Yes. All the mass relays connecting the Terminus systems to the Citadel will be heavily fortified. Saren's fleet will never make it through." Sparatus explained to Shepard in a condescending tone as if she were too dull to comprehend the concept.

Valern added, "thanks to all of you, we've pinned down Saren's movement. Our fleet will be lying in wait when he shows up."

"Is it wise to allow him free reign? For all we know, he could use Sovereign to create an even larger army while in the Terminus systems." Vasir's voice was low and flat. It was clear the asari was extremely unimpressed.

Kirrahe was equally dismayed. "Sovereign can indoctrinate people to serve as its willing slaves. My unit suffered heavy casualties to bring this critical intel back to the Council. Are we to allow this atrocity to go on unchecked?"

Tevos shook her head deliberately. "The Council could hardly interfere with the many ongoing conflicts within the Terminus systems. The moment he chooses to send in his force, then it becomes our problem. Saren's greatest weapon is his secrecy. Since we have discovered his true target, he no longer holds an advantage."

In other words, it would be no skin off their collective nose if Saren picked a fight with the many superpowers dwelling inside the Terminus systems. The Council might even come out ahead if the rogue Spectre stirred up enough troubles for their own spies to slip in amidst the chaos. Cold, but Shepard could see the logic behind this strategy. Besides, they didn't care about people being enslaved by Sovereign. After all, slavery was a common practice in that lawless region. The Council was not even willing to go after batarian slaver gangs roaming the Traverse with Citadel fleet. They left that mundane task to the Alliance to worry about.

Too bad that in their denial of the Reaper threat, they had completely overlooked a few facts. One, the size of the blockade the Council was planning for would have never been large enough to stop a Reaper plus hundreds of geth ships. Two, Saren's fleet could reach the Citadel completely unopposed through the back door the Protheans built on Ilos. Three, the fleet stationed over the Citadel was uttered unprepared to combat a Reaper. Four, in their arrogance, the Council never planned for any additional ground fortification in case Saren's troops made it onto the station.

"What is the contingency plan in case Saren's fleet breaks through the blockade?" Taking Vasir's earlier advice to heart, Shepard proceeded to gently (for her, anyway) prod the Council along instead of picking apart their poorly thought out stratagem openly.

"Break through the blockade?" Sparatus let out an amused chuckled. "What a thing to say. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the Citadel fleet garrisoned over the station? Our flagship, Destiny Ascension, alone packs enough firepower to equal the rest of the asari fleet combined. Even if Saren miraculously breaks through the blockade, it would be impossible for his already battered force to put a dent on our defense. I assure you, Commander Shepard, if Saren is foolish enough to attack the Citadel head on, we will be more than ready for him."

So the answer was no, the Council had absolutely no clue what they had coming. Thinking furiously, Shepard found one angle she might be able to use without antagonizing the Council too much. "As the Council had mentioned before, Saren still has allies here. It's very possible his allies might sneak in a few geth, along with some dragon's teeth, and unleash a swarm of Husks right here on the Citadel. Are our C-Sec officers trained to handle this kind of attack?"

The startled look on everyone's face was her answer. Of course C-Sec would have no idea what to do in this situation. Only the Alliance and a few STG units had some experience fighting geth and Husks in the Traverse. The Council had done such a thorough job downplaying the attack on Eden Prime, even their own troops were kept ignorant of what the geth could do on the ground, or what they could do to organics with Reaper tech.

Sparatus was beginning to get impatient with Shepard's unwillingness to simply accept the Council's directions. "I don't claim to know how the Alliance trains their soldiers, but Citadel Security has always been trained to follow the highest standards. It will take a lot more than a few geth to overwhelm our force. Now, are you done with all the pointless questions?"

"Not yet, Councillor, and they are by no means pointless." Shepard replied calmly, though her eyes were burning with carefully suppressed outrage. "As we speak, Saren is searching through Ilos to get his hands on the Conduit, a top secret tech the Prothean developed at the height of their civilization. We know Sovereign is a Reaper and must be destroyed. We've discovered their plan to attack the Citadel, thereby repeating the same pattern as all previous Reaper invasions did. So why are we doing nothing to stop this from happening again? The Prothean empire was doomed because the Reapers had destroyed their central government located on the Citadel in one surprise attack. We cannot afford to repeat the same mistake. If the Council is not willing to send in a fleet to the Terminus systems to stop Saren, then send me. I can be discreet. One ship is not going to start a war."

Sparatus was unconvinced. " _You_ detonated a nuclear device on Virmire. I wouldn't call that discreet."

Before anyone could point out the obvious flaw in that argument - after all, it was the Council's poor decision that led to the necessity to detonate a nuke on Virmire - Tevos cut in. "Your style works well in the Traverse. We recognize it. But Ilos requires a deft touch. We have the situation under control."

" _With all due respect_ , Councillor. You really don't. Reapers are coming. Sovereign is their vanguard, while Saren works as their puppet. A blockade is nowhere near enough to stop their advance. Trillions of lives are at stake. Please, we are running out of time."

Kirrahe decided to stick out his neck to repay what Shepard had done for his unit before, even though it was clear the Council would be extremely annoyed with him for siding with the Commander. "If anyone can bring down Saren, it would be Commander Shepard. She has proven herself to be an excellent strategist and exceptional infiltrator on Virmire. I have faith Commander Shepard is more than capable to complete the Ilos mission with utmost discretion."

Risking the Council's displeasure, Vasir also chose to step up to provide Shepard support as she had promised. "I agree with Commander Shepard and Captain Kirrahe. If we must err, let it be on the side of caution. I urge the Council to reconsider all the options."

Tevos frowned at them unhappily. Shepard felt her stomach churned when she saw that particular stern expression. Fan-fucking-tastic. Calling ahead to warn the Council about Saren was proven to be a huge blunder on her part. The four day's travel time was too much delay that the ever cautious Council were getting cold feet. If only she had withheld intel until they were back on the Citadel to report in person, the shock of having so many credible eyewitnesses might have been enough to push the Council into action. Now, since she had allowed them time to bury their heads deeper into the sand in denial, the inertia alone had killed her hope of getting any kind of support from the Council.

"The Council _is_ being cautious. I understand you feel strongly on this issue, Commander, but you learnt of the Reapers from the beacon. The mind is delicate and complex. What you perceive to be true could have easily been unrelated facts that are simply misinterpreted. The most talented Matriarchs with more than a thousand years of continuous dedicated practice could not have processed three thousand year's worth of information without making the slightest mistake. The Council could ill afford to risk a war because there is a very good chance you are wrong." With a regretful shook of her head, Tevos refused to reconsider and stood firm on the Council's position.

Sparatus tacked on Tevos' statement and added, "there is a human saying, 'even a broken clock is right twice a day.' You might get lucky once in awhile. It doesn't mean the Council would accept every outlandish claim you make on face value. I think we've all heard enough. If you are not willing to comply, Commander, we will find other people better suited to assist the Council to counter Saren."

Next was Udina's turn to glower at Shepard. "Enough, Commander. You are on thin ice already. Need I remind you your title was given by the Council, and could just as easily be taken away? I'm beginning to think you're more trouble than you're worth. As the human Ambassador, _I_ can arrange for the Alliance to collaborate with the Citadel fleet to form the blockade. It's for the best. We need someone who understands the value of cooperation to represent humanity."

Shepard scowled. Udina was showing his true colours. The vulture could tell which way the wind was blowing. Humanity's first Spectre had done the hard work of tracking down Saren, now the Ambassador was going to rake in the credits for assisting the Council in taking him down. From Udina's point of view, Shepard had outlived her usefulness. She had a good idea what was about to happen to herself, too. Well, why fight the inevitable? At least this time she would not feel so blindsided when she knew the knife was coming.

Standing behind the Commander, Ashley and Kaidan both bristled at this turn of event. "Bastard!" Ashley growled.

Shepard corrected the Chief. "Politician." She spat.

Kaidan let out a loud snort at the retort.

"Control your people, Shepard." Udina sneered.

Shepard gave him a disgusted look. "They are my people, not yours, _Ambassador_."

Udina's face contorted into an ugly mask of contempt for a few seconds before it morphed into one of triumph. "Commander, I believe with Saren cornered, your mission has come to an end. Is that correct, Councillor Sparatus?"

Sparatus' mandibles flapped languidly in an expression of absolute delight. "Why yes, I do believe so. Commander Shepard, you have performed admirably in your mission to stop Saren. The Council will summon you when we need you again. For now, you are dismissed."

 _Here it comes._ Shepard braced herself.

"Hear that, Commander? Your job here is done. Go take a well-deserved vacation. Humanity thanks you for your service. I believe Rear Admiral Mikhailovich is very eager to have the Normandy re-join his 63rd Scout Flotilla." Udina said with a self-satisfied smirk.

What the Ambassador just said had both Ashley and Kaidan suck in a sharp breath in shock.

"Well played, Ambassador. I will remember this." Shepard promised in a frigid tone. She didn't need to fake the look of indignation to mirror what she was feeling inside. Grounding the Normandy was one thing, while taking it away from her was an entirely different matter. In any case, she was not about to take this lying down. Nor would she forget this transgression any time soon.

Udina narrowed his eyes at Shepard's thunderous expression. "Pack your things and get all the non-Alliance riffraff off the ship. You have one day. Don't even think about trying anything funny. I'll have C-Sec ground the Normandy."

"Commander Shepard." Tevos called out just as Shepard was about to leave. Wearing an regretful frown on her heavily tattooed face, the asari Councilor said to her benevolently, "this is for your own good, Commander. Don't think of it as a punishment, either, because it isn't meant to be one. As a newly instated Spectre, you have performed above and beyond our expectations. Don't let the rashness of youth be the undoing of a wonderful career."

"Then perhaps in time, I will learn to appreciate the Council's wisdom." Shepard replied in a placid tone that betrayed not a hint of her defiance. Her aura, even though muted by the hardsuit significantly, must have revealed her internal turmoils to the two asaris. She caught Vasir and Tevos exchange an alarmed look with each other whereas the other two Councillors as well as the Ambassador seemed pleased by her show of deference.

Regardless of what the Council wanted, everything was already in motion. Sovereign would be here in about three day's time. Without the override code from Vigil, a legion of Reapers would follow.

Udina could kick her off her ship. The Council could bench her, or even threaten to sack her if they wished. But nothing, _nothing_ was going to stop Commander Shepard from saving the galaxy.

 _Damn it. Vasir's right about the savior complex._ Was the thought that went through her head as she marched past the contemplative asari Spectre to exit the Council Chamber.

x-x-x

A/N: Chapter title name was from Firefly.


	13. I-13: Race Against Time

Book I - Chapter 13: Race Against Time

While riding in the rapid transport cab back to the C-Sec Academy, Shepard couldn't help but notice the devastated expression on her two subordinates' faces. Not having to think too hard, she could already guess what had caused it.

"Seriously, enough with the kicked puppy look. None of this was your fault." Shepard said mildly. The entire situation was so completely within expectations, she couldn't even work up enough steam to get visibly upset.

Ashley was on the verge of tears from anger and frustration. "But it _was_. Udina took the _Normandy_ away from you because I got mouthy!"

"The little rat made it personal. All he ever did was kiss the Council's asses when we were out there getting shot at. Now he stabbed the Commander in the back so he can take all the credits for himself!" Ever political minded, Kaidan was more aware of Udina's motivation than Ashley was.

Shepard shook her head. "Udina might have taken away my command, but he only did it with the Council's support. The Council wanted humanity's first Spectre to fail, if only to demonstrate that we were not ready to join the big boy's league. My success put a wrench in their plan, so they had to get rid of me one way or another. The Council didn't want to share power with humanity so soon. It's only been 26 years since the First Contact War. It took the turians hundreds of years of petition plus millions of dead soldiers during the Krogan Rebellion for them to finally be recognized. And that was largely due to the necessity of filling the power vacuum after the krogans were pounded back to the stone age. What made you think it would be so easy for us?"

The two were quiet for a while after hearing what Shepard had to say. "This is not fair." Ashley finally said.

Shepard gave the Chief a sideway glance. "Life's not fair."

"So this is it. I didn't think Virmire was going to be our last mission together. It's been a privilege serving with you, Commander. It's gonna be weird being under someone else's command." Kaidan said gloomily.

"Both of you are excellent marines. You two are going to be fine no matter where you go." The Commander said, meaning every word of it.

News proved to travel at a speed faster than the Citadel's rapid transport cab. By the time the three made it past the airlock and entered the Normandy's bridge, every single person on the ship already heard about what had transpired inside the Council Chamber.

Joker was especially torn up about the situation. "We all heard. I'm sorry. First it was Captain Anderson, now you. Udina had no right to do this. What does he think he is anyway? That little weasel is not even part of the Alliance military command chain! Damned politician."

"I appreciate the thought, Joker. But we all know that's what politicians do. Turn on the intercom, will you? I have a mandatory speech to make."

Joker flipped a few switches before nodding solemnly at the Commander.

"This is Commander Shepard. All of you had probably heard of the rumor that Ambassador Udina had ordered the Normandy to rejoin the Alliance's 63rd Scout Flotilla. I'm here to make it official. As of now, I am no longer the Commanding Officer of the Normandy. XO Pressly will be in temporary command until the Fifth Fleet sends over a replacement. Ambassador Udina has also ordered all non-Alliance personnel to vacate the vessel within one day. Me included." Shepard paused, just as a lopsided grin slowly split her face.

Joker's eyes went round when he saw that unmistakingly mischievous expression. A moment later, he began to mirror the same evil grin.

"There was one thing Ambassador Udina had forgotten when he stripped me of my command - I am a Spectre. I do not answer to him. The Council thinks everything will be fine now that they have Saren trapped inside the Terminus systems. They are wrong. As we speak, Saren's army is combing the Prothean ruin on Ilos to find the Conduit. Once he finds it, no blockade is going to stop his fleet from reaching the Citadel. It will be a massacre. We will _not_ let him get away with this."

Shepard looked around her. Every single one of her crew had converged onto the command deck in the short span of time since she had began her speech. "I'm asking you all to mutiny. If we fail, court martial wouldn't be our biggest problem - the Reapers would. This would be a dangerous, and thankless mission. Now who's with me?"

x-x-x

Vasir sat in front of a terminal inside C-Sec aircontrol, watching security feeds monitoring several key strategic spots. One of them happened to be right in front of the docking bay elevator inside the C-Sec Academy hall.

The first person who left after Shepard returned to the Normandy to bid her farewell was Wrex. Without so much as a backward glance, the krogan merc summoned a cab and went straight for Chora's Den.

The next person was Garrus. The former C-Sec brought with him a few crates of personal belongs and left to visit his old buddies still serving in the force.

After that, about a dozen Alliance marines from the Normandy exited the elevator three at a time for their well-deserved shore leave after four months of active duty. Vasir had spent nine days trapped inside a small ship with all of them, so she recognized their faces. They congregated in the hall and then walked toward the human embassy as one big group, probably to relax and have a drink at the attached lounge. The Staff Lieutenant and the Gunnery Chief, Shepard's two loyal subordinates were both part of this group.

Vasir crossed her arms. Her instinct told her that something about this situation felt wrong. From what she knew of the stubborn human, Shepard should have fought harder. That insufferable woman would have slam her head against the Council's decision until her skull cracked open, not meekly accept whatever pyjak waste they tried to shove down her throat as nutrient paste. But there it was. Shepard's loyal crew were quietly leaving the ship one by one. The Commander had obeyed the Council's order to stand down without a fuss. Tevos' concern that Shepard might make a scene in her anger had not come to pass.

Humanity must have truly frightened the Council for them to put up such a fierce resistance to this newcomer's integration to the galactic community. Humans bred and expanded like krogans did before the genophage. Worse yet, they had the martial discipline of turians. If required, they could be as wily as asaris, and more underhanded than salarians. They might be short-lived and unsophisticated, but they sure were an adaptive species. 26 years ago, humans were fumbling in the dark, completely clueless that the rest of the galaxy was occupied. Now, they had _Shepard_. Udina might think himself a big player on the galactic stage, but he could not have been more misguided. The galaxy did not care for yet another snivelling politician, no matter how important he thought himself to be. All eyes were on Commander Shepard, Alliance N7, Hero of Elysium, humanity's first Spectre, Champion of the people.

And Shepard was a _magnificent_ Spectre. Vasir thought herself more than competent, and she didn't care to contemplate even half of the stunts Shepard had managed to pull off.

Inducting her into the Spectre rank was the smartest thing the Council could have done regarding Shepard. This way, at least they retained a nominal control over this force of nature. Vasir could tell that while Tevos and Valern were weary of her, Sparatus was downright terrified. The old crusty bird saw what Shepard was capable of, and he feared this weapon would be set loose against the turians.

Having fought alongside Shepard, Vasir could have told the turian Councillor that his fear was completely unfounded. That insolent human might be hard to control, as long as they they steer clear the path of the tornado, no harm would come to them. In fact, by deliberately taunting Shepard, Sparatus had painted a giant target on his own back. Udina, that poor fool, was stupid enough to stab her in the back. Did he really believe Shepard to be the type to forgive a betrayal?

The slimy salarian Councillor was the one Vasir had to keep her eyes on the most, in her opinion. Valern was suspiciously quiet in that Council Chamber. It was always a bad sign when a salarian chose to remain silent on an issue. Most likely, he already had his own plans up and running in the background while the rest of the Council bickered with Shepard. Salarian military doctrine favoured preemptive strikes; they preferred their wars won before they started. The most important question was, whom was the enemy Valern had been plotting against?

Tevos, on the other hand, was hedging her bet in true asari fashion. The Councillor had asked Vasir to keep an eye on Shepard, but she didn't specifically ask her to stop the human if she stepped out of line, either. That, by itself, was telling. Vasir had not had the chance to speak with Tevos at length regarding Shepard yet, but she was keen to discover what the Councillor really thought of the upstart human.

Vasir's private musing was interrupted by the ping of her Omni-tool. It was a message from the very woman she was thinking about.

 _Shepard: Stay on Citadel for a few more days, will you? And please don't bother my crew too much. They'll give you the same answer they give to everyone else._

Vasir rolled her eyes at the cryptic message and typed a quick note.

 _Vasir: What is this supposed to mean?_

A moment later, Shepard sent her a cheeky reply.

 _Shepard: Now you see me…_

Her computer monitor flickered. The security camera aimed at the Normandy briefly went static before going back online. Except, when it did, the frigate had vanished.

"What the…?!" Vasir jumped up from her seat and grabbed a nearest turian C-Sec aircontrol officer. "You! Give me the status of SSV Normandy docked in the private Alliance docking bay, Dock 422."

The turian officer looked startled, but complied with the order immediately. "By Ambassador Udina's request, the ship has been grounded. We've locked up all the primary systems."

Vasir stabbed at the monitor screen with a finger. "Then explain that!"

The guy's mandible fell open in shock. "What?! That's impossible! Excuse me, I must go check on it immediately."

Vasir palmed her forehead. Now that explained Shepard's first message. Great. She would make sure to stand far away from Sparatus for the next little while. That nasty turian sprayed when he talked if he was in a bad mood. Better yet, she was going to request for a private audience with Tevos. She had a message to deliver.

x-x-x

Growing up with three younger sisters, Ashley had long mastered the wide-eyed innocent look since she was eight. Boot only served to further toughen up her poker face under stress. Getting yelled at (and sprayed on) by DI Ellison for months could tan the softest hide to leather.

Standing at attention along with Lieutenant Alenko and twelve other marines inside Udina's office, Ashley watched impassively as Udina worked himself up to a foaming frenzy. If a horde of acid spitting rachni couldn't faze her, a slimy rat bastard couldn't do so much as make her yawn. What could this little man possibly do to her? Give her a worse curse than the one she already suffered from? Not bloody likely.

"Then it's a fucking miracle. A whole ship just…" Udina's face went from a deep red to an alarming shade of prune as he struggled to stay intelligible. Moving his hands in wild gestures, it took him a moment to get the next word out. "...vanished all by its own. And none of you had any idea how it happened."

"No, Ambassador. We didn't even know the ship was gone until you told us just now." Kaidan said with complete honesty. Ashley had to hand it to the guy. Every word he said was true.

"This is a blatant derelict of duty! You left the ship unguarded, and now it's gone!" Udina shrieked at the Lieutenant's face.

Kaidan narrowed his eyes at the accusation. " We were given leave to go on a five day shore leave. I strongly advise you to check the shift schedule before you mount a baseless accusation against us. The Alliance military does not take kindly to this type of abuse from _civilians_ , sir."

Before Udina could say anything stupid, Captain Anderson cut in. "Ambassador, I would give you the same suggestion. Derelict of duty is a major offense that warrants a court martial in front of a tribunal. This accusation would not be treated as a simple complaint. Admiral Hackett would be extremely displeased with you if you drag his men's reputation through the mud out of misplaced anger. You are _civilian_ , sir. Admiral Hackett has been very accommodating to all of your _requests_ because he thought they would assist the Commander in her mission to hunt down Saren. Speaking of which, have you consulted with the Admiral before you took the Normandy away from the Commander? I sincerely hope you have. Passing off military orders without having the proper approval is a serious lapse in judgement. Passing off military orders while _pretending_ to have the proper approval is _treason_."

Ashley watched gleefully as all the colour rapidly drained from Udina's face.

"There, um, might have been a miscommunication… I'll… need to make some calls. You lot, dismissed." Udina stuttered, then quickly exited the room. Probably to run damage control to save his own ass, Ashley thought gleefully.

"That'll teach him." Anderson muttered. He turned around to look at all the marines inside the office and asked, "shore leave, eh?"

Kaidan replied with an easy smile. "Yes, sir. Five whole days."

Anderson raised an eyebrow. "Any plans for those five days, Lieutenant?"

"Just the usual. Walk around the Presidium, relax at the Wards. Enjoy the view."

"Hmm…" Anderson rubbed his chin. "That seems tame. Not one for drinking or clubbing at all?"

Kaidan maintained a perfect poker face. "No, sir. I never drink on the job."

Anderson gave him a sharp look. "I see. Carry on, then. Go and enjoy your _shore leave_."

x-x-x

"Aw, damn it. No sign of pursuit? I was hoping the Council would send some ships after us. I was looking forward to putting the Normandy through her paces. Figured I'd get to see what this ship can really do." Joker said with a fake pout.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the Lieutenant's blasé comment. "They probably don't know the ship's gone yet. My _associate_ is very good at liberating property without the owner's notice. So if you really want to play hide and seek with enemy ships, you'll have to wait 'till we run into Sovereign. I'm sure a Reaper is more than enough of a challenge, even for you."

Joker scrunched up his face in distaste. "You know, it doesn't seem like much fun when you say it like that, Commander."

"I'm sure it'll look great on your service record. 'Outran a Reaper.' The brass might even give you a shiny medal for that. And then there'll be speeches. You'll have to shave your scruffy beard and stand on your creaky legs for hours while they yak about duty and honour with very big words."

"No, thank you. They can keep their medal. In all honesty? I'll be happy if I don't get court martialed. I don't know if they've already put a giant black mark on my service record, but I, um, _borrowed_ the Normandy prior to being assigned on the ship to demonstrate my superior piloting skill. I'm worried they might see a trend here." Joker looked a bit more nervous than he let on earlier.

Shepard reassured him, "nah, they won't do that. If anything goes wrong, I'll be the one on the hook. Even if I somehow avoid jail time, the media will roast me alive. The only thing that's more entertaining than watching a star rise is to watch it fall into disgrace. That's assuming if everyone's attention is not on the legion of scary sentient machines that are coming to exterminate us all."

"When you put it that way, my own concerns seem pretty darn unimportant in comparison."

"That's not true, either. I would never trivialize your own experience. Afterall, what's the point of saving the galaxy, if there is nothing for you to live for?" Shepard said, thinking back to the soul-numbing moment when she was made to witness her hopes and dreams dashing to pieces a lifetime ago.

It would have been so much easier if she had perished alongside Liara on that desolate London street. Duty and obligation kept her tethered to the world of living, and her thirst for vengeance kept her fighting 'till the bitter end. In hindsight, she was grateful she had persevered. Whatever deity that was looking out for her must have really believed in second chances. Cerberus might have raised her from the dead, but the Crucible had given her another shot at obtaining true happiness - marriage, old age, and little blue children.

"Commander?" Joker's tentative voice pulled her back from her own musing.

Cursing inwardly for the momentary slip of the tight control over her weightier thoughts, Shepard schooled her expression to a relaxed smile with practiced ease. "Anyways. Carry on." She said airily and headed back toward her cabin. She ached to see Liara.

With half of the crew gone, the ship was noticeably quieter than usual. From what the Commander could see, everyone that was left seemed optimistic, albeit a bit apprehensive for the upcoming mission. Last time she ordered all hands on deck, she had kept most of the crew together on the ship. This time she had to split her crew in half. Other than Tali, Liara, and herself, all the other crew members were designated non-combatants according to Alliance standards. They were navigators, data analysts, helmsmen, communication specialists, engineers, and one medical doctor. It wasn't to say they didn't know how to handle a firearm - far from it. It just meant all the marines trained to take groundside missions were assigned under Kaidan and Ashley to put to use where they were most effective.

This was going to be an even more dangerous mission than Virmire. There was a distinct possibility that any one of them would be killed.

When she walked into her cabin, Shepard found Liara sitting on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head bowed low. "Sweetie, are you alright?" Concern clear in her voice, she sat down next to the asari maiden and put a hand gently on her crest.

Liara looked up. With some alarm, Shepard noticed that there was a suspicious sheen in her strikingly blue eyes. While normally sweet and demure, right now those eyes were bright, if not a little wild. "I'm fine." Liara said in a rush.

Shepard frowned at her disapprovingly.

Liara changed her answer. "I mean, I will be fine." She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and added, "it's just nerves. I will get over myself."

"Would you like to talk about it? You don't have to, but I'm here."

"It's pretty stupid..."

"Your concerns are not stupid." Shepard stressed sternly.

Liara cringed. "Believe me, they are exceedingly foolish. Saren is trying to bring about the extinction of all organic life, and I can't stop thinking about the mess his geth is going to leave on _Ilos_. By the Goddess! I have been so thoroughly desensitized, if geth launch rockets at me on Ilos, I'll be more concerned that they might damage the Prothean ruin I'm standing on. My priority is completely bungled. I am so looking forward to finally going to Ilos, the prospect of getting shot at only adds to the excitement! I should be terrified, but I'm really not. What is wrong with me?"

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with you." Shepard said with a wide grin. "It means Aethyta was right. You're gonna raise one hell of a storm with those little wings. Perhaps you've never noticed the many small changes over these past few months, but you have been thrown into combat situations consistently for a while. Now all of a sudden, you see this gun-totting tomb raider in the mirror, and you wonder what happened to the socially awkward archaeologist you've known your whole life."

Liara tilted her chin up like a challenge. "This is supposed to be a very dangerous mission. There is no guarantee we will succeed in stopping Saren in time."

"So you remember the risks just as I have informed everyone well before we stole the ship."

"We could die."

"It's a possibility, yes." Shepard nodded in acknowledgement.

"It disturbs me that I am not more afraid. I should be." Liara admitted, wrinkling her nose in a small grimace.

Shepard studied the maiden's freckled cheeks fondly. "My shy little Liara has finally grown up to be a tough commando. Congratulations, you're a war veteran now."

Liara gaped at her with a startled expression. "I am?"

"You are." Shepard confirmed with unwavering conviction. "In an ideal world, you would've never needed to know how to fight beyond basic self-defense. I've never wanted to endanger you, if I could help it, but since war is inevitable, I will settle for the next best thing - you being absolutely untouchable on the battlefield. I need you to be tough enough to endure whatever nightmares the Reapers can throw at us. We must survive this together because I want a future with you."

Liara's breath hitched. "You…"

Shepard took Liara's left hand with her own and wrapped her thumb and middle finger around Liara's wrist. "We haven't been together that long. Four months is a very short time even by human standards. It must be like a blink of an eye for an asari. With the Reaper threat looming over our heads, it might seem selfish to want some happiness for myself when the whole galaxy is falling apart around our ears. Despite everything, I have no doubt in my heart that I want a future with you. That is, if you will have me." Shepard's voice was soft as she held the blue arm in her hand up and kissed the delicate scales lining the inside of the wrist with her eyes closed.

"Shepard…"

She opened her eyes when she heard her name being spoken in such a tender way as to feel like a physical caress. Liara's sky blue eyes were shining with joy, and the way she looked at her… The way she looked at her made her feel so _alive_. It wasn't planned, but she could not resist asking the question she had been meaning to ask since a lifetime ago. "Liara T'Soni, I promise to respect you and love you forever. Will you bond wrists with me?"

"Yes!" Liara breathed. Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks, leaving two glistening trails of wetness on either sides of her grinning purple lips. She lunged forward and tackled Shepard in a tight hug, before pulling back a little to shower kisses all over her face. "Yes, I will."

"This is embarrassing. I popped the question without having the bracelets ready. To be honest, I didn't plan on any of this. It just, sort of, came out. At least you agreed. It would have been _tragic_ if you said no." Shepard started out all happy and excited, but then she began to freak out when she realized she had absolutely no clue what needed to happen for them to officially tie the knot. Extranet should have a lot of useful information regarding asari bonding customs, but she had never really looked into it. "Now I have to plan a wedding… no, a bonding ceremony. I have no idea how these things work. You know what? Let's elope. But I should probably tell my mom before I file the paperwork with the Alliance. Crap. I have to _tell my mom_..."

"Jane." Liara put a hand over Shepard's mouth to kept her from babbling. "Take a deep breath, relax, and kiss me."

"Aye, aye, ma'am." Grinning lazily at the maiden, Shepard mock saluted and proceeded to follow orders to the best of her ability. By the time they broke for air, Liara was a boneless heap of flushed and whimpering mess in her arms. "You are beautiful." _And you are mine._ Charging her hand with a thin wisp of biotic energy, she lightly brushed over the small dimple above Liara's hips, right where one sensitive nerve cluster for channeling biotics located. The wave of lust and affection rushing through the bond from Liara's end had her clutching at her lover's lab coat for support.

 _I am yours. As you are mine._ Liara's mind yielded to the first stroke of Shepard's consciousness. Their thoughts wove together so seamlessly, they were one. Immersed in each other's spirit, their physical bodies moved as their shared pleasures guided them.

There was no hurry; Shepard took her time leisurely exploring every inch of her lover's skin with her lips and tongue, paying extra attention to the spots that forced out the wettest moans from Liara's throat. It was not until the maiden was in tears while begging to be filled, did she finally buried her fingers deep inside clenching, velvety heat. Kneeling between trembling thighs, she lapped ardently at the sensitive bud that crowned the azure. Liara's hips bucked in time with the tempo of Shepard's thrusts; her body writhing as if dancing to the music only the two of them could hear.

Shepard peered up at the rapturous expression on Liara's face as she drove her closer towards her peak, and decided to tease rather than to sate. Smirking fiendishly, she straightened up from her previous crouching position and gently extracted her digits. This break of physical contact had also muted the mental connection so the only clue she transmitted through the meld was that she was in a mischievous mood, but not what she was planning to do to her lover. Liara's incoherent protests only made her grin wider. With a deliberate tilt of her head, Shepard brought her hand up to her lips, and proceeded to lick her dripping fingers clean while locking her eyes with Liara's own glassy black.

A violent shudder rippled down Liara's sweat drenched frame as she stared up at Shepard with her mouth hanging open. Harsh puffs of air came out her throat as frustrated soft whines. The combination of Shepard's cruel teasing plus the mental withdrawal had her momentarily devolved into a primal state where words were lost to her.

Taking pity on the utterly vulnerable position Liara was in, Shepard reinforced the meld by stroking the maiden's hips fondly while urging her to move. Following the nonverbal command obediently, Liara rolled off her back and crawled up to Shepard for a fervent kiss. Very soon, her probing tongue had Liara grinding against her thigh. Grinning at the maiden's impatient display, Shepard squeezed at her lover's firm bottock to garner her attention before lying down on her back.

Blushing furiously, Liara allowed herself to be guided to half-sit on, half-kneel above Shepard's face. The first sweep of her tongue had Liara jump at the touch, but she had a steady grip on her hips, so Liara ended up staying exactly where she wanted her to be. With giddy anticipation, Shepard plunged into liquid heat and groaned approvingly at the burst of sweetness. The faint echo of pleasure from Liara's end of the meld intensified into an almost solid physical sensation that had her own hips jerking against thin air. Gazing up at Liara's writhing body, it was apparent that the maiden was torn between slouching forward to grip at Shepard's short hair and arching back in delirious ecstasy. The result was a hypnotic undulating dance Liara was locked in until her entire body seized in an infinite moment of perfection when Shepard's biotic charged thumb tipped her over the edge with one circling stroke.

"Goddess!" Was all Liara managed to gasp out after being released from the unrelenting grip of aftershocks. Slumping sideway to avoid collapsing on Shepard's head, she remained unmoving for a long minute, submerging in post-coitus bliss. While she was obviously too spent to move, Shepard wedged one hand underneath Liara's exhausted body and drew her into a possessive hug. Liara let out a content purr and nuzzled at Shepard's throat like a sleepy cat. "That was…"

"Awesome? Wonderful? Mind-blowing?" Sheppard supplied helpfully.

"Not civilized." Liara answered with humour in her airy voice.

Shepard chortled. "Ready for round two?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Liara pulled back a bit to glare exasperatedly at Shepard's smug face. "Are you trying to kill me? No." She paused a moment and hedged, "well, at least give me some time to recover before you ask again. Are you completely certain you don't have krogan in your ancestry? That would explain so much about your stamina."

"I have no doubt you can keep up just fine. Between the two of us, you're the quarter-krogan in this relationship."

"Once again, that's not how asari physiology works." Shepard could hear Liara rolling her eyes as she protested.

"No? I bet you you would blame it on me every time our kids get into troubles by doing something impulsive."

"... Yeah, I would." Liara admitted sheepishly. She paused for a moment, before asking expectantly, "so you want children?"

"I want marriage, old age, and many little blue children with you, yes. Preferably, our daughters would inherit your intelligence and my good taste in bondmate. And freckles. They would look adorable with freckles."

Liara smiled lovingly at the hopeful twinkle in Shepard's eager green eyes, and replied, "with us as their DNA donors, our daughters would have no chance to escape a life of freckle-dom."

"Excellent." Shepard dropped a kiss on Liara's crest before she added somberly, "we will win this, Liara. We must. If not for ourselves, then for our daughters. No stinking machine is going to take our future away from us."

Liara propped herself up on one elbow to gaze deeply into Shepard's smoldering green eyes. "Agreed. They are in for a rude awakening if they think organics from this cycle are as easily quelled as all the previous ones." Combing through Shepard's short red hair with her fingers, she explained proudly, "they do not know what you obstinate humans are capable of yet. You are the embodiment of your species' indomitable will to survive, to unflinchingly challenge an insurmountable foe. With you leading the charge, the Reapers are the ones who shall learn to fear you."

Shepard gawked at Liara in astonishment. The young maiden had no idea how eerily prophetic her declaration was. Harbinger had specifically targeted herself, and humanity in general, because it was intrigued by her role in ruining Sovereign's plot to unlock the Citadel's hidden mass relay, thus delaying the Reapers' return for years.

Unaware of the shock her simple statement had invoked, Liara shifted her attention from Shepard's hair to her cheeks and used the tip of her fingers to trace her freckles as if they were constellations in the night sky. "In other words, you, my dear Commander, are going to lead the galaxy to victory by out-stubborn-ing these ancient machines that are _extraordinarily_ set in their ways. So I am well within my rights to place the blame squarely on your head if our daughters turn out to be as willful as you."

Liara's turnabout was so unexpected, Shepard was stunned for a moment. When her brain finally caught up, she couldn't help but cackle at her lover's dry wit. "You are making fun of me again. If you have the energy to do that, would you be up for round two?"

"Let's see…" With one smooth flip, Liara nimbly straddled her hips while smiling sweetly down at her with a playful glint in her eyes. Her fingers rubbed enticingly at the muscular ridges of Shepard's abs. "I'm on top."

x-x-x

"Going through Mu relay in three, two, one..." Joker announced as the Normandy shot across the galaxy and landed with pinpoint accuracy within visual range of the lost world of Ilos.

Shepard, Tali, Liara, and Pressly had all been waiting anxiously at the bridge for this moment. When the image of the rust coloured planet fill the screen, Liara had to mentally pinch herself to stay focused so as to not give away the torrent of conflicting emotions that threatened to break her calm facade. It was time like this she was envious of her quarian friend that she could always hide behind her tinted faceplate.

"Um, Commander? We've got company." Liara couldn't help but notice the slight tremble in Joker's voice. On the monitor, geth ships lit up with red highlights. There must have been dozens of them in orbit, ready to defend the planet against any intruders like a swarm of angry wasps. Even without formal training in space naval warfare, Liara could tell that a fleet this size could overwhelm a simple blockade with one surgical strike.

Not for the last time, Liara inwardly cursed the Council's unwillingness to listen to the Commander. Instead of acknowledging their own error in judgement regarding the Virmire mission, the Council acted as if they had collective amnesia, conveniently forgetting that the mission had gone sideway precisely because they disregarded Shepard's warnings. They were making the same mistake again. It was as if they could not comprehend the prospect of an impending Reaper invasion, and therefore did everything they could to deny the reality of if.

"Have their sensors pick us up yet?" She asked, hoping the Normandy's stealth drive could once again fool the geth as it did on Virmire.

Joker double checked the system status. "Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we are here."

"Lucky for us, geth dropships don't have windows." There was a hint of satisfaction in Shepard's smooth voice.

Pressly spoke up. "Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface."

"Is that Sovereign?" Shepard asked.

Joker replied before Pressly could. "No, Commander. Good news! Sovereign is not here; it's not in orbit, it's not on the planet. We would've picked up its unique signal a long time ago otherwise. I bet you the signal is from the Conduit; that's where Saren is."

"Damn it, we need to hurry. Drop us in the Mako. I want the Normandy to be ready to GTFO at a moment's notice. If any of the geth ships see us, they'll swat her out of the sky like a fly." Shepard ordered. Liara didn't understand what GTFO meant, but she could guess. Human idioms did not always translate well, and they had so many of them.

"Negative on that, Commander. There isn't enough space. You need at least a hundred metres of open terrain to pull of a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty. We'll have to drop you at least two klicks away." Pressly objected.

"Even with the Mako that'll take too long. Saren's already found the Conduit. We need to stop him before he figures out how to use it. But the descent angle is too steep. Is it possible to drop us somewhere else?" Tali asked with clear dismay.

"There is no other landing zone! I've looked." Pressly sounded close to panic.

Liara was beginning to feel dread slithering up from the pit of her stomach like a snake rearing its head. "It's our only option."

"The fate of the galaxy is dependent on your piloting skill, Joker. Can you pull this off?" Shepard asked.

"I can do it." Joker stated with complete confidence as if it was a simple fact.

Shepard beamed at the reply. The familiar upward slant of her lips sent a boost of courage though Liara's body like a shot of adrenaline. "You hear him. Gear up and head down to the Mako. Joker, drop us right on top of that bastard!"

The twenty metre open terrain Joker dropped the Mako on turned out to be the main walkway leading towards the underground bunker. Through the Mako's onboard camera, they saw Saren entered the bunker before the gate slammed shut in front of them. They had been so close.

They hurried off the vehicle to examine the bunker gate. As expected, the door could not be easily hacked open from the outside since, well, it was a _bunker_ designed to withstand a siege. "There has got to be a way to bypass this door... Look out! Geth behind us!" Shepard pulled out her pistol and erected a barrier in a split second as she whipped around to fire at the synthetics coming up from behind them like a swarm of ants.

Her biotics surged to life with a muted hum. Liara lashed out at a group of geth troopers charging at them while Shepard and Tali fired off a barrage of bullets. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed the HUD was showing several Armatures on standby mode at the far end of the open space. They would wake if the squad got within range.

"Scan is picking up a room most likely to be the security station of this facility. It's on the lower level, at the other side of the courtyard. We can unlock the bunker gate from there, but we'll have to fight our way through. This will take a while." Hiding behind a pillar while checking her Omni-tool, Tali shouted over the noise of gunfire and explosion all around them.

"Armatures ahead. We'll use the ramp." Shepard also spotted the group of geth that functioned as heavy duty gatekeepers. Their high damage, high defense build made it so fighting them head on would be dangerous, and more importantly, time consuming. It would be faster if they walked around them instead of through them.

Vasir's earlier prediction was proven correct - there were more geth crawling on the ground of Ilos than on Virmire. Liara felt her teeth clatter from the tremor as several rockets hit a wall close to where they were. She reinforced her barrier before poking her head out to pick out the best spot to form a singularity that could trap the three geth stalkers jumping around them like demented frogs. Unfortunately, she only manage to snag two while the third one lept away at the last second.

Meanwhile, a group of geth troopers, led by one Prime, charged at their direction. Liara sent off a warp at the towering synthetic, hoping to slow it down some how. Before it could clear the length of the open space, Shepard charged out from behind cover in a streak of cyan light and smashed them apart in one fantastic biotic explosion. Her follow-up biotic punch laid the Prime on its back. While she lifted the group of damaged geth off the ground to keep them off balance, Tali finished them off with a salvo of shotgun blasts. The one geth stalker she missed chose this moment to jump at Shepard, only to be sent flying off with a lightning fast biotic throw by the Commander herself.

More red dots appeared on the HUD from their flank. Out of reflexes honed from numerous battles with geth, they ducked behind a section of fallen pillar while waiting for their biotics to recharge. It was a prudent move since those enemies turned out to be rocket drones that were highly resistant to physics based biotic attacks. Tali's tech power truly shined when squaring off against synthetic foes. The talented machinist's fingers flew over her Omni-tool in a blur, hacking and overloading those drones as if they were simple toys. "Area secured." Tali announced after shooting the last drone out of the air.

Now that she wasn't fight for her life, Liara finally had a chance to look around the ruins she had been standing in. Based on the aesthetic of the architecture, this research facility could be dated to the very height of the Prothean empire, right before the Reapers invaded. None of the native vegetation was recognizable to her. The calamity this planet had suffered during the Reaper invasion must have dramatically altered its biosphere. Most fascinating of all were those rows of stone statues of imposing figures seated on tall back thrones, each of them wearing the somber expression of deep mourning. "They don't look Prothean." Liara muttered to herself, perplexed.

"That's because they're not. They are Inusannon. This used to be their world. The Protheans studied artifacts left by the Inusannon on Ilos and eventually developed mass effect technology. That was why this world was considered the pinnacle of research and innovation by the Protheans. Funny how that worked." Shepard said matter of factly as she scanned the area for a clear path since the overgrown vegetation had obscured their view. She paused when her Omni-tool's scanner swept over a geth console. "Tali, can you hack into this thing? It looks like a control station."

"There's some kind of signal… It's connected to the Armatures in the upper yard. Yes, I can shut them down from here! Just give me a second to bypass the firewalls and… done."

They went back up a different set of ramps to the upper yard, tiptoed past a horde of deactivated Armatures, and ran into more geth troopers while advancing across the vast courtyard. There seemed to be an endless supply of geth blocking their way, but they grit their teeth and pressed on. By the time they made it to the elevator located at the far end of the facility, Liara was out of breath from spamming biotics non-stop for so long. "At least they are not sending in more reinforcements via airdrop." She said, after sipping a few mouthful of energy drink from her canteen attached to her suit.

"Not a good sign. It means Saren needs them somewhere else." Shepard replied with a slight frown.

Liara could easily see past the thin veil of calm the Commander had put up for her squadmates' benefit. There was an unmistakable tang of fear mixed in with an earthy undertone of self-doubt in Shepard's aura. Having melded with her deeply (and frequently), Liara was intimately familiar with the subtle flavours of Shepard's life force. The further they went into the ruins, the more prominent the scent of impatience was, even though she had made no outward indication of it. Shepard must have been truly unnerved by what they had found on Ilos for her aura to fluctuate enough to slip through the containment of her hardsuit.

"The elevator works!" Tali marveled as they stepped inside, "this place still has power. It must be running off its own generator."

"I bet this is the command centre of the entire complex. Saren's troops must have sealed the doors from here after he went inside. We'll have to figure out how to disengage the security lockdown if we ever want to get inside that bunker." Liara pondered with growing apprehension. Time was not on their side. Judging by the amount of geth troops and additional security features installed in the facility, Saren must have been here for a while. What if they were too late?

"There's still time. Joker will let us know as soon as the fleet begins to move. Saren probably hasn't figured out how to use the Conduit yet." Shepard reassured her even though she was clearly perturbed as well. Liara only just realized she must have voiced her doubt outloud. Inwardly berating her own careless slip of tongue, she accepted Shepard's explanation with a relaxed nod while she was feeling anything but.

"That also means there will be a lot of geth guarding that security station. Better get ready." Shepard reinforced her barrier and holstered her pistol in exchange for her shotgun before she stepped off the elevator to confront a mob of geth shock troopers stationed inside the lower courtyard.

"Tali, Armature station to your left. Prime, Destroyers, Juggernauts ahead!" Shepard snarled viciously as she snapped out a slew of long range biotic attacks to impeded the advancing geth from overwhelming the squad. Recognizing the Prime charging at them to be the priority target, Liara hurled off a powerful warp at it. Her biotic attack reached the menacing synthetic almost at the same time as Shepard's own attack did. The two separate mass effect fields fed off each other and generated a volatile chain reaction that resulted in a violent explosion.

More geth troopers swarmed at the squad. Liara quickly fired off another singularity to keep them back, but the area of effect was only large enough to snare a few of them. By this point, Liara's biotics was mostly depleted and she had to wait for it to recharge. She dodged an incoming rocket and crouched behind a short wall, using the precious few seconds of reprieve to strengthen her barrier and ready her pistol. The scene that greeted her when she peeked over the stone pillar to provide cover fire was absolutely awe-inspiring.

The flat and open terrain of the courtyard was the perfect stage for Shepard to showcase her aggressive fighting style. Liara had wondered how the woman managed to keep an overwhelming number of opponents off-balance during the Virmire mission, and now she knew. One moment Shepard was on one side of the courtyard, the next moment she was right on top of her opponents, raining down carnage like a vengeful Goddess. It was all but impossible for the geth to pin down someone as fast as a trained vanguard. If this was how Vasir was like on the field, no wonder Shepard had chosen her to partner up on Virmire. Wrapped in the menacing red and black Colossus armor and cloaked in electric blue biotics, the Commander was a whirlwind of fire and steel to anything within shotgun range.

Jolting out of her momentary lapse in concentration, Liara pulled back her lips in a smile that was a touch on the savage side as she entered the fray with renewed vigor. Her biotics had recharged during the few seconds of rest. Shepard had wanted her to be untouchable on the battlefield, to be resilient enough to weather the coming war. And the only way for that to happen was for her to become a titan of her own right who could rival Shepard's prowess in battle. She might have spent the last fifty years as a scientist, but the commando training she had received in her youth at the insistence of her overprotective mother was more than a solid foundation she could build on. With enough experience, Liara was confident that she could fulfill Shepard's high expectation of her.

 _Practice makes perfect._ Liara repeated the human idiom in her mind as she timed Shepard's movement and dropped a warp on a geth the Commander had been targeting a split second before her charge connected. The resulting biotic explosion from the tandem attacks not only shattered the shield of one Destroyer, it shredded the unfortunate geth's gun arm. Shepard pressed her advantage and followed up with a hard biotic punch that ripped right through its torso. Even from halfway across the yard, Liara could see the proud toothy smile on the Commander's face. Her heart fluttered joyously by the gesture of tacit approval before it lurched to her throat when she spotted an Armature shudder and whirl to life at their flank.

"That one's ours!" Tali proclaimed gleefully. Liara watched with her eyes wide as the four legged mechanical anti-tank unit fired off a pulse cannon shot at the group of geth troopers, wreaking havoc within its own ranks.

"Nicely done!" Shepard praised the young quarian, clearly impressed by the speedy hacking job. With an Armature's support, the two of them cackled maniacally while letting loose a storm of bullets with their favourite boomsticks. Grinning jovially at her squadmates' antics, Liara joined in with her biotics, herding geth into a tighter pack so they would be more vulnerable to shotgun sprays. When the exchange was finally over, the large open space was littered with so many destroyed geth, Liara had to pay extra attention to watch her footing to avoid tripping over random body parts, or slipping on viscous conductive fluid on the uneven stone floor.

They headed up a ramp leading toward the security office and found a functional console. A degraded holographic recording sprung up as soon as Shepard touched the interface. The recording mentioned the Conduit briefly, but the data file was too corrupted that the message was mostly incomprehensible.

"What did it say? It sounded like static." Tali wondered.

Liara gave Tali a bewildered look. "It was in Prothean. The data file is very damaged. It sounded like a distress call. A warning."

"Fortunately for us, the console itself is not too damaged to unlock the bunker gate." Shepard said in a deceptively light tone.

"Let's hurry. I am troubled by the lack of reinforcements." Liara urged.

Without saying another word, they began to run at a blistering pace.

x-x-x

A/N: Hopefully the sex scene wasn't too explicit? I only wrote that scene in details because this fic was rated M already. Besides, it was before Ilos. It was supposed to be special.


	14. I-14: Vigil

Book I - Chapter 14: Vigil

"Who votes to take the Mako down the creepy underground tunnels?" Liara joked to lighten the mood as the previously locked bunker door hissed open. Using humour as a stress reliever seemed to work well for humans, so she figured it should work for asaris and quarians as well.

"Yes. It would be very convenient when we inevitably find geth blocking our way. Nothing the cannon fire won't fix." Tali agreed eagerly as she climbed inside the vehicle.

"Ok then, thanks for volunteering, Tali. I drive, you shoot." Shepard said as she strapped herself into the driver's seat.

Liara had anticipated encountering substantial opposition inside the bunker that would be similar to, if not greater than the force they had engaged outside. Contrary to her expectations, the tunnel seemed to be deserted. Daylight filtered through the planet's rust tinted atmosphere, casting a soft warm orange glow down from the ceiling of the enormous complex. Weather, water, and natural vegetation had invaded the facility during the millennia, reducing the monument from the pinnacle of Prothean erudition into an ornamental tombstone.

"I thought Saren would have set some kind of trap or ambush for us. They must have been in too much of a hurry." Tali commented, clearly as perturbed by the lack of opposition as Liara was.

"Or we just haven't run into it yet." Liara suggested. She did not want to point out that the alternative would have spelt greater trouble; if Saren were in such a hurry to leave Ilos, it could only mean that he had already obtained the Conduit.

They sped down the empty tunnel, completely unopposed for a long while. The underground bunker seemed to stretch on forever.

 _Just how big was this place?_

"What are all those things on the walls? Some kind of containers?" Tali asked, if only to break the eerie silence.

Liara had a fair idea what they were. Judging by the somber expression on Shepard's face, she knew the answer already. "They look like stasis pods. The Protheans probably tried to keep themselves alive by cryogenic freezing."

"But there are so many of them..." Tali blurted out with a start. "Oh! This place is a tomb…!"

"Incoming!" Shepard alerted while dodging rocket strikes from a few geth troopers. Tali returned fire and took them out quickly. The last straggler was ran over by the Mako without fanfare.

That was it.

"Ok, is it just me, or is this token resistance kind of pathetic?" Tali wondered out loud.

"It's not just you." Shepard replied curtly. "We saw Saren bring an army of geth in here before he sealed the gate. The better question is, where have they _gone_?"

This horrible sense of wrongness steadily intensified the further they drove into the complex. While repeated telling herself to get a grip, Liara was unable to stop from twisting her hands together in a nervous gesture. As the silence dragged on, the sound of her inner voice freaking out over the mysterious disappearance of an entire geth army kept on getting louder. This had to be a trap.

The sinking feeling of dread coiled in the pit of her stomach once again, threatening to drown out all her logical thoughts. Quickly stealing yet another glance in Shepard's direction, Liara hoped to garner strength from the woman's steady presence. The determined set of Shepard's jaw had reassured her somewhat, but Liara could not completely shake the doubt in her mind that perhaps, they had been too late.

Abruptly, Shepard stopped the Mako and unstrapped the safety harness. Though unexpected, this was a welcomed change to the nerve wrecking silence.

"What's happening?" Tali followed the Commander's lead, even though she sounded very confused.

They jumped out of the vehicle, and Liara saw the reason why they had to continue on foot. Two translucent layers of energy curtains had sprung up along the tunnel, trapping the squad inside. Oddly, there was no additional power source, nor any geth device nearby to sustain the energy curtains. In fact, the energy signature felt strangely familiar.

 _Therum. The stasis bubble._

"I don't think Saren is responsible for this." Liara commented with bewilderment.

"Joker, report." Pressing against the side of her helmet to turn on the onboard communicator, Shepard asked again with a deep frown. "This is Commander Shepard. I need a status report." When no one answered, the frown morphed into a scowl. "No signal."

With no way to contact the Normandy to get a status update and nowhere else to go, they went into the smaller side tunnel and entered the elevator - the only place they could go. It took them down, deep into the bowels of the complex. Through the side of the elevator, Liara saw rolls upon rolls of stasis pods, grimly aware that they were coffins to house the dead rather than vessels to sustain life. By her estimate, Liara could see hundreds, if not thousands of stasis pods lining the walls of the enormous complex like a beehive.

 _More like a catacomb._ Liara reflected morbidly. "I have studied the Protheans for decades, but I have never felt this sense of foreboding. What will we find down there?" Apprehension coloured her voice; Liara could easily imagine the ghosts of long deceased Protheans prowling the empty halls, crying out hollow omens of doom:

 _Beware! Beware of the Reapers!_

"Whatever we find, be cautious. If this were simply an automatic trap, Saren would have triggered it as well." Tali warned.

A lone central control console sat on the end of the chamber, surrounded by several stasis pods and fallen debris. Beyond her wildest imagination, the console activated on its own when the squad approached it. A degraded hologram flickered on. Though its light was dim and its voice tinny, it began to speak in _asari standard_. "You are not Prothean, but you are not machine either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons."

Tali was amazed. "Looks like some kind of VI program. Pretty badly damaged."

The VI continued. "I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you. Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope."

"This is incredible!" Liara marveled in reverence. "An actual Prothean VI, and we can all understand it!"

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend." The VI explained. "My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe."

"What are you and what do you want?" Shepard asked impatiently, before adding, "and spare me the rhetorics. We're in a real hurry."

If it was possible for a VI program, Vigil seemed to be perturbed by Shepard's bluntness. "I am an advanced non-organic analysis system with personality imprints from Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of Ilos research facility."

"Got it. You're a VI." Shepard summarized the tedious introduction down to two letters. "Now get to the point! And Tali, please go grab the bluebox from the Mako. You know what to do."

Tali stifled a delighted squeal and hurried to follow the Commander's order. Liara, on the other hand, was barely able to contain her glee at this turn of event.

Vigil started, "the Citadel is the heart of your civilization and seat of government. As it was with us, and as it has been with every civilization that came before us. But the Citadel is a trap. The station is actually an enormous mass relay. One that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon. When the Citadel's relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through, and all you know will be destroyed."

Liara felt her insides freeze at this revelation. One surprise attack from a legion of Reapers, just as the warning from the beacon had described. The horrifying images of senseless death and destruction Shepard had shown her before would happen again if they didn't stop Saren in time.

Shepard visibly held herself back from growling at the VI. "I've seen the warning from the beacon. I know that's how the Reapers jumped the Protheans. They destroyed their central government and seized control of every mass relay through the Citadel in one surprise attack. Except this time, something went wrong, and they could not remotely open the Citadel's hidden mass relay. They are using Saren to look for an Prothean artifact called the Conduit. That's exactly why I'm in such a hurry. Just tell me how to stop them."

"The Conduit. Before the Reapers attacked, we Protheans were on the cusp of unlocking the mystery behind the mass relay technologies. Ilos was a top secret research facility. Here, researchers worked to create a small-scale version of a mass relay. One that linked directly to the Citadel: the hub of the relay network."

"The Conduit is not a weapon. It is a back door onto the Citadel!" Liara exclaimed in horror. Of all the possibilities, this one was by far the worst. If Saren could use the Conduit to transport a great number of geth troops directly to the Citadel, it could assume control of the station and open the hidden mass relay to commence the next cycle of extinction. "How could the Reapers overlook this world? How did you keep this hidden for so long?"

Vigil answered, "all official records of our top secret project were destroyed in the initial attack on the Citadel. While the Prothean empire came crashing down, Ilos was spared. We severed all connection with the outside world and our facility went dark. The personnel retreated underground into these archives. To conserve resources, everyone was put into cryogenic stasis. I was programed to monitor the facility and wake the staff when the danger had passed. But the genocide of an entire species was a long, slow process. Years passed. Decades, centuries. The Reapers persisted. And my energy reserves were dwindling."

Shepard finished the VI's miserable tale. "So you had to disable the life-support of those pods. Starting from non-essential personnels and slowly worked your way up the hierarchy until all the Reapers had gone back to dark space. You were their custodian, but you had no choice. Either you could save some of them, or none at all. I wouldn't want to trade places with you."

Vigil lamented in its mechanical monotone. "I saved key personnel. When the Reapers retreated, a dozen top researchers were still alive. The Prothean species was doomed. Yet they vowed to find some way to stop the Reapers from returning. A way to break the cycle forever. And they knew the keepers were the key."

Liara fought against the revulsion she felt towards the VI that had to commit this monstrous crime against the people under its care- to sacrifice hundreds of the brightest minds so that trillions from the next cycle would have a better chance to defeat the Reapers in their stead.

"How do the keepers factor in all this?" Liara asked with a frown.

"The keepers are organic servants controlled by the Citadel. The Reapers created them to maintain the station in order to keep the Citadel's secrets hidden. Before each invasion, a signal is sent through the station, compelling the keepers to activate the Citadel relay. After decades of feverish study, the scientists discovered a way to alter the signal. Using the Conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications. This time, when Nazara sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it. The Reapers are trapped in dark space."

Shepard chuckled at this information. "The Protheans sabotaged the Reaper's preemptive strike. That's why they need Saren to find an alternative way to take over the Citadel."

"Nazara?" Liara puzzled.

Shepard clarified, "Saren named it Sovereign. It's the same Reaper that called itself the vanguard of our destruction." Even though Liara was eager to hear all the details regarding the Prothean's experience with the Reaper invasion, the Commander was plainly starting to lose her patience. Tapping her foot restlessly, Shepard demanded, "I'm tired of your long winded epic saga, Vigil. There must be some way to stop the Reaper from taking control of the Citadel. Either you're going to help us, or just let us be on our way. I don't have time to chat."

Sensing the urgency, Vigil complied immediately. "There is a data file in my console. Take a copy before you go. When you reach the Citadel master control unit, upload it to the station. It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocol and give you temporary control over the station. It might give you a chance against the Reaper you called Sovereign."

"Finally!" Shepard groused as she copied the file with her Omni-tool.

Tali came back from the Mako with the bluebox Shepard requested. This expensive hardware had been scrubbed, modified, and armor-plated during the few months since its acquisition. On the way to Ilos, the team had deliberated several probable scenarios they might encounter on the planet. This was one of the scenarios they had discussed. In case of discovering a large cache of data on Ilos, Tali was tasked to retrieve the data for further analysis with the quantum computer they salvaged from the lunar base. Liara just hoped the bluebox had enough memory to accommodate a Prothean VI.

"Vigil, listen," Shepard spoke to the VI sternly. "From what you've said, it is apparent that your prime directive is to break the cycle of extinction at any cost. This coincides with my own mission. You possess a tremendous amount of critical information that can be extremely helpful to us, but I really don't have time right now. Your power supply is already depleted. Either I walk away and leave you here to die, thereby wasting all the information you possess. Or you can save us time by voluntarily duplicating a copy of your data bank onto this quantum computer, fulfilling your own mission by assisting us to combat the Reapers. Your choice."

The VI paused for a brief second. "This eventuality has not been anticipated by my original programming. However, I can see the necessity behind your request. Very well, I choose to assist you in your war against the Reapers. I will release all of my security protocols to expedite the data transfer. This will not take long… Assigning new user: Commander Shepard. Updating user security level: Warden. Initiating remote file transfer…"

x-x-x

Standing at attention in front of Councillor Tevos' desk inside her private office, Vasir silently watched with great concern. The normally unflappable Councillor exhibited very little of her usual grace as her entire body recoiled as if struck by a physical blow.

"Was that her exact wording?" Tevos asked faintly while grabbing onto the edge of her desk for support.

Once again, Vasir relayed the message word for word while carefully ridding her face of all expression. "Indeed. Commander Shepard said, 'the asari was chosen amongst many to lead the war against the Reapers in this cycle for a reason. If they refuse to step up, Thessia will fall.'"

Tevos sat heavily down on her plush office chair; her hands cradling her forehead as if in great pain. "Thessia will fall…" After a long moment of pause, she slowly straightened up in her seat and asked cautiously, "and you have not repeated this to anyone else?" The question came out more like a warning than anything.

Vasir shook her head. "Not at all. I understood the need for discretion since Shepard was being exceptionally vague on purpose. I must admit, I was thoroughly confused by her cryptic message."

All she could deduce was that whatever Shepard learnt from the beacon must be akin to blackmail material of the highest order, and that the simple fact that someone not from their ingroup was also privy to this secret was enough to get those supercilious old crones' panties in a twist. Why else would they exclude asari Spectres from being in on the secret if they weren't clearly in the wrong? But of course she was not so dim-witted as to let Tevos know she suspected as such. Vasir was content to feign ignorance, lest the Matriarchy's ire be directed at herself.

"So much power, so much potential. All in the hands of a _child_." Tevos grimaced. There was no doubt who the Councillor was referring to. "Off the record, what's your opinion of her? And don't give me the same drivel you gave to Valern. We both know the salarian commands little respect from you."

"Shepard is…" Vasir rubbed her chin thoughtfully, taking a moment to organize her thoughts. "... different."

Tevos' eyes flashed with irritation at the reply. The matriarch was clearly not in the mood to play the usual game today. Vasir elaborated before Tevos lost her patience. "Where do I start? If you had the chance to observe her without the hardsuit obscuring her aura, you would have been more inclined to believe her claim regarding the beacon. Enroute to Virmire, I spent four days trapped inside a tiny frigate with her. Her natural aura was like nothing I've sensed before. She _exuded_ life. When the beacon obliterated the barrier of her mind, I _felt_ her consciousness actively assimilating the essence of the relic, rather than being overwhelmed by it. Anyone else with a weaker will would have been rendered comatose. After the mission, I spent another four days studying her. I swear to the Goddess, Shepard's aura _aged_. If she weren't so painfully human, I would be inclined to argue she was not. Had I not witnessed the incident up close, I never would have dreamed it possible. You could call her a variety of unflattering names, but she is most definitely not a _child_."

Tevos stood up from her chair and walked up to the Spectre. "Show me." She demanded.

Vasir bowed her head with her eyes closed in deference, wordlessly giving her consent to the Councillor to initiate the meld.

"Embrace eternity," Tevos intoned solemnly, and Vasir pushed the specific memory to the forefront of her mind.

 _The beacon's ethereal light pulsed in one heartbeat before its ancient energy smashed through the human like a divine sledgehammer. The sheer force of this collision of wills locked the human in a state similar to stasis. Even from a distance, the shockwave of the strike pricked her mind like a thousand frozen needles. Instead of being ground down to nothingness, Shepard's spirit bounced back from the devastating blow. She did not bend, did not shatter; instead, she folded herself around the supernova and embraced it. At that moment, all was one._

 _Utterly inconceivable! No human with their underdeveloped mind was capable of this! And yet, here this impossibility was, unfolding right in front of her eyes with absolutely zero regard for logical sensibility._

 _The same emerald light from inside the beacon now shone from within Shepard. A breath later, the light disintegrated into millions of tiny sparks of faint glimmers before melting into the impossible human's own vibrant cyan glow. Shepard's aura thrummed like a brewing thundercloud; Vasir was genuinely terrified that the human's volatile mind would lash out and attack her own like a lightning strike - an untamable force of nature…_

 _Whatever force that was locking Shepard in place evaporated as the beacon's internal light dimmed after the exchange. The human fell on the floor, kneeling in front of the dormant relic for a moment to catch her breath, before slowly raising to her feet. Was this being still Commander Shepard, human Spectre? Or was it something else walking in Shepard's skin? To have one's mind torn asunder in this brutal manner, it was unthinkable that anyone could retain their sanity afterward._

 _Vasir pulled out her pistol and got ready for the worst._

 _Hovering over the relic, a red holographic image of the ship Sovereign blinked into existence. A VI? No. Didn't seem like it. Most curious._

 _Shepard slowly climbed up the stairs towards her with unsteady feet. Her face was a shade paler than usual, and her potent aura was whipping around her like a tangled knot of furious vipers. Her hardsuit did little to contain this maelstrom of chaotic biotics. Would she snap?_

" _Well, you're not dead. I guess it went well?" Vasir asked nonchalantly, feigning disinterest to the best of her ability._

 _Shepard smiled. There was a distinct taste of vulnerability to that guileless expression. It was like a sunrise breaking through the raincloud. Haltingly, but surely, Shepard's aura began to calm as her mind rebuilt the mental barrier ravaged by the traumatic experience. If Vasir could compare Shepard's aura to a camp fire before, now it resembled a raging smelting furnace. How was this possible? What the hell was this human's will made of? How could anyone's mind go through this meatgrinder only to come out stronger than before? In the short span of several heartbeats, Shepard had managed to tame the colossal ancient energy dwelling inside the beacon and transformed the storm of dark energy into a serene pool of tranquil water._

 _Goddess damn it! How?!_

" _It's not what I expected, but yeah, I suppose. I'm still standing. But that," Shepard pointed at the red holo image and said, "is not so good."_

 _Vasir frowned at the hologram. Having her mind ripped to shreds by the Prothean beacon, no sweat. Seeing this one holo image of an enemy ship, not so good. Fucking hell?! Whatever this was, it had Shepard spooked. She supposed she should also be really worried, then._

Tevos withdrew from Vasir's mind with a deep breath. The incredulous expression on the Councillor's heavily tattooed face accurately reflected Vasir's own thoughts regarding the many impossibilities surrounding the first human Spectre.

"How is this...?!" Tevos echoed the same question Vasir had been asking herself countless times. "She's _human_!"

"To use Shepard's own words, she is 'not a typical human.'" Vasir answered drily. "As I said before, she is different."

"Different? Different doesn't even _begin_ to cut it! She should have been dead! Her brain should have been pulverized into mush and dribbled out of her ears! This is _impossible_!" Tevos remarked with blatant disbelief.

Vasir crossed her arms casually. "We can rant and rave about this impossible feat all day, but it did happen. How is this any more impossible than her warnings about the Reapers?"

"The Reapers." Tevos shook her head in disgust. "Let's say Shepard was right, the Reapers destroyed the Protheans just as she claimed. Where are they now? It's been 50,000 years. If they still exist, we would've seen some evidence of them over the years."

"That's because you're determined to ignore them. What's 50,000 years to machines? They're not really alive. Sovereign is a Reaper. Acknowledge it or not, they are coming. I have to agree with Shepard on this one."

"Not you too! That human is like a disease. You spent some time with her, and now you're starting to sound just like her." Tevos narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Vasir.

Vasir rolled her eyes. "Hardly. Remember, I was there when Sovereign spoke to us via a hologram. I can show you if you want."

"That thing is clearly a VI of Saren's creation. A simple bluff. Designed to keep his pursuers off balance." Tevos dismissed Vasir's explanation with a wave of her hand. "A pointless extermination of all advanced organic life? Please. I have yet to hear a more ridiculous excuse to start a conflict. Every war requires a cause, be it resources or pride. I've read the report. What you've suggested is mindless wanton destruction with nothing of value to be gained."

"They are really coming!" Vasir exclaimed urgently.

Tevos clicked her tongue disapprovingly at Vasir's outburst. "There's no need to raise your voice, Vasir."

"No! They are here! Look!" Vasir spun the Councillor around by her shoulders to point at the numerous tiny dots heading toward the Citadel. In the middle of the hundred geth ship formation was the distinct shape of the Reaper dreadnought Sovereign.

"But…" Tevos' ability of speech had all but vanished the moment she saw the massive fleet of geth ships from the window.

"Spectre Tela Vasir to C-Sec HQ. I'm with Councillor Tevos at the tower. Ready a shuttle with escorts ASAP! Requesting immediate extraction!"

The static filled reply she got was even more alarming than Vasir had anticipated. "Copy that. This is officer Chellick, we're already on our way. Geth is attacking HQ right now! All the comm channels are jammed. The only frequency still working is the backup short range radio. All the comm buoys are down! We can't call for reinforcements!"

Vasir cursed loudly at the bad news. Saren must have found some way to smuggle enough geth onto the Citadel to overwhelm C-Sec HQ in an ambush. The signal jam would explain the lack of station wide evac alarm. Without reinforcements, whatever garrison they had over the station at the moment would have to hold off the geth fleet on their own until communication was restored. "We're under siege! Close the ward arms!"

"Negative! Air control tower has been destroyed in the first wave of the attack. It's impossible to close the arms. All available personnel are currently split between restoring communications and containing enemy ground force from spreading to the Wards." Chellick's reply painted a grim picture of their current situation. If they couldn't close the arms, civilians would be hit hard by the collateral damage. Ship debris and fire alone could cause tremendous damage to the station, killing thousands.

"Get a team to find the other two Councillors. Evacuate the Council to Destiny Ascension, now!" Vasir shouted into her communicator.

"Already on it. Step back. We're coming through the windows." Chellick replied.

"The blockade…" Tevos muttered to herself weakly, unable to comprehend the dire situation at hand.

"Fuck your blockade! Shepard fucking told you so! Let's just hope our asari dreadnought is enough to match the Reaper dreadnought. Otherwise we're all dead! 'More than ready for him,' my ass!" Vasir snarled as she dragged the reluctant Councillor back away from the floor-to-ceiling windows and stood guard in front of her with her barrier at full strength.

Less than a minute later, a C-Sec armored shuttle pulled up and fired repeatedly at the windows until the the ballistic glasses shattered. When the shuttle door opened, Vasir did a double take at the familiar sight of former C-Sec officer, Garrus Vakarian standing at the door to greet them. "Fancy seeing you here, Spectre." Garrus jumped inside the office through the broken window. "Chellick, old chap, please escort Councillor Tevos to Destiny Ascension. This is my stop." The turian turned to look at Vasir expectantly and asked, "you staying?"

"Take the Councillor and go." Vasir said to the C-Sec escorts inside the shuttle as she none too gently shoved Tevos into the armored vehicle. Having done her duty, she turned around and glared at Garrus. "After three days of playing dumb, you have a lot to fess up to, Vakarian. Start talking."

"Really?" Garrus' mandibles flapped slightly in good humour as he headed out of the office with Vasir close at his heels. "The Citadel is being invaded by a geth fleet several hundred ships strong, led by a sentient machine dreadnought, crewed with tens of thousands of geth troops and krogan clones, armed with gruesome tech that could turn people into mindless husks. And now you wish to talk? Typical asari."

Vasir visibly fumed at the turian's reply. "For three days I asked, and not one of you would tell me anything useful! Obviously you are much better informed than I am. The Citadel is under siege! Now it's not the time to test my patience."

"Fair enough. I suppose you've got a point there." Garrus put up his hands in a placating gesture to forestall the ill-tempered asari Spectre from snapping at him. "No reason to keep quiet anymore, either. Although I must say it was absurd that we had to treat the people we intended to protect as enemy combatants just so they wouldn't sabotage our efforts."

Not stopping to chat, Garrus briskly walked towards the elevator as he explained, "Commander Shepard warned them the blockade would not stop Saren's fleet. The Council thought by exposing Saren's secrecy, they had defanged him. The Commander thought a cornered animal to be more dangerous than a hidden one. With or without the Conduit, with Sovereign on his side, we all knew Saren already had enough raw firepower to punch a hole through the blockade. The only difference was how many ships he would lose during the attack. If he had wanted to simply destroy the Citadel, this place would have been space junk ages ago. Therefore, logic dictates that Saren must be here for reasons beyond wholesale slaughter. He is here to take control of the station. The Reapers built the Citadel. If I were an evil sentient machine that had been using this fancy place as a gilded trap for eons untold, I would've left a shiny red button labelled 'TAKEOVER' hidden somewhere I wouldn't forget. My bet is..."

"...It's right here in the Council Chamber, the command centre of the Citadel." Vasir finished his sentence faintly.

Garrus confirmed with an amiable nod, chatting while continuing to lay down trip wires and explosives on the hallway leading up to the courtyard. "This is pure speculation based on the information we've gathered, of course. The Commander had three tasks for me. One, to inform C-Sec of geth combat capabilities and assist them to improve existing station-wide evacuation procedures. Two, to delay Saren any way I can during the attack. And three, to live through this. Your presence here has markedly improved my odds at completing the latter two tasks with all my limbs intact."

"Damn it! She should've kept me in the loop. This is important! I would've helped her." Vasir scowled while trying to push down the strange feeling of hurt she felt by the exclusion.

Garrus gave her an odd look, but didn't slow down until he had finished booby-trapping the hallway. "The Council grounded her. She is in enough trouble defying their orders as is. I don't think those politicians would be too pleased if she dragged you down with her."

Vasir wasn't sure what to say to that. "... No, I suppose not. But the stake is too high. She should've involved me regardless... And where did you get all those explosives?"

"They are modified grenades. Commander Shepard gave me her entire stock before she left for Ilos. She could only carry a few with her on the field anyway." Garrus said, taking a moment to survey his handiwork. He had lined the hallway leading out of the elevator towards the audience chamber with explosives that were attached to tripwires installed on the staircase. Once the enemy at the front of the line triggered the tripwires, the entire contingent of troopers would go boom.

Not entirely satisfied with his work, Garrus planted more explosives around the courtyard. "Take this and attach it to the wall at waist height." He gave Vasir a small device. At her questioning look, he explained, "something I've been working on. It's a laser proximity tripwire. There's still room for improvement. Anyways. After they get blasted with incendiary explosives at the hallway, they'll either try to put out the fire by jumping into the fountain, which I've electrified, or scramble up the stairs and get hit by another round of cryo explosives. If that combo doesn't kill them all, it'll slow them down enough for me to pick them off with head shots. Speaking of which, I should get into position on the balcony."

Soon after they set up at a vantage point on the balcony behind a roll of heavy duty furniture appropriated from some random diplomat's office, the shrill wail of the emergency alarm blared throughout the station, notifying every person on the Citadel of the current situation. Vasir let out a sigh of relief - it seemed someone at the C-Sec HQ had managed to at least un-jam the emergency channel. As per standard procedure, the VI Avina would assist in damage control, such as fire containment and environmental control, as well as guiding evacuation for the civilian population.

"Excellent. I knew the Alliance marines would come through." Tapping into his Omni-tool, the former C-Sec pulled up several screens showing security feeds coming from all over the Presidium. From the poor picture quality and the awkward camera angles, Vasir could tell the footages was not from standard C-Sec security cameras. At her questioning look, Garrus explained, "low bandwidth, hence the grainy vids. But baby cams are easy to acquire in bulk, and they are so primitive, no one in their right mind would bother to jam this frequency. I'm using pre-spaceflight technology specifically to take advantage of the fact that the Reapers only target advanced civilizations."

Vasir's eyes flittered across the row of monitors hovering above Garrus' arm as her brows slowly knitted together in mounting horror. Geth were everywhere. On one of the cameras located at the base of the Council tower, they could see how the synthetic army had boarded the station - they were shooting out of the Mass Repay monument like a hail of cannonballs. "The monument is a working relay!" She almost choked on her words.

Garrus made a distressed noise in his throat. "That miniature relay _is_ the Conduit! Saren must have brought his geth in straight from Ilos!"

"And they're coming this way." Vasir pointed at one of monitors showing an army of geth troopers swarming towards the Council tower. They were climbing up the building like spiders by using mag-locks built into their limbs. She sincerely hoped the other two Councillors were evacuated already, because the geth were firing at all the rapid transport cabs within range as they scrambled up the structure.

Outside the windows, Vasir saw several hundreds geth ships all attempting to break through the C-Sec fleet to fire at Destiny Ascension. At the rear of the geth fleet, Sovereign loomed while waited for the opposition to thin out.

"If the Council were on Destiny Ascension, they should flee while they still can." Vasir stated with gritted teeth.

"They can't. They need to get past the geth fleet to reach the mass relay. There is no chance Sovereign will let it through… Spirits! They are using dragon's teeth!" Garrus exclaimed in dread.

Whipping her head around to look at the screen Garrus was pointing at, Vasir watched with morbid curiosity as a ring of the atrocious devices were set up near the bottom of the tower. With typical machine efficiency, a team of geth grabbed half-dead civilians from around the Presidium and mounted them atop of the tripods. Having not seen this particular Reaper tech in use before, Vasir flinched as spikes erupted through the still squirming bodies of wailing civilians in a macabre display. When they finally stopped struggling, they were slowly transformed into grotesque half-synthetic Husks that barely resembled what they looked like in life.

"By the Goddess!" Vasir whispered in revulsion.

"Get ready." Crouching behind an upturn durasteel desk, Garrus shut off the security feed before pulling out his trusty sniper rifle while carefully aiming at the opening elevator door. "Here they come."

x-x-x

Kneeling behind a heavily scorched short wall, Ashley idly wondered whether it was her helmet comm unit that was on the fritz, of if it was her own hearing that was damaged by the electric surges. Even the normally high pitched sounds of bullets whizzing through the air all around her seemed somewhat muted.

 _It's definitely me, then._ Ashley thought, noticing how her vision was beginning to dim.

"Goddammit, Ash! Hang in there!" Followed by a team of marines, Kaidan dashed across the room and slapped a package of medi-gel onto her hardsuit interface as soon as he reached her.

The familiar cooling, numbing sensation of medi-gel sliding down her body was a welcomed one. Sighing with relief, Ashley perked up with a hard shake to clear the wool stuffed inside her head. "Did it work?" She asked, as her heart sank when she counted only seven marines guarding their position.

"Yeah, it did. Emergency channel is back online. Evac is in progress. More C-Sec are coming this way. Thanks for buying us time." Kaidan replied.

Even though they knew an attack was coming, it was still a nasty shock when it actually happened. As per their Commander's orders, Ashley and Kaidan each led a team of six marines and hung around the Presidium and the Upper Ward area to keep a close watch over the C-Sec HQ. Their objective was to protect the strategically important location that was bound to be the first place to be under attack if Saren were to invade the station.

As luck would have it, Ashley's team had the front row seats of watching Saren fucking Arterius and his geth shoot out of the mass relay monument in the first wave of attack. The stunned Gunnery Chief only had the time to send out one franatic message to alert all of the Normandy crew currently on the Citadel before the geth jammed their comm channel. Knowing there was no way a small team of infantry could hold off Saren's army, Ashley had order her team to retreat into the C-Sec HQ to rendezvous with Kaidan's team.

When she finally arrived at the HQ, the place was a hub of confused chaos. Apparently the sudden communication blackout had caused numerous accidents and did major damage to the station's already overworked air control system. While C-Sec was working double time to figure out how to restore communications, an army of geth stormed in, and set up a forest of dragon's teeth right in the lobby of the C-Sec Academy.

It was a complete massacre. Instead of being gunned down like animals, civilians trapped inside the building were dragged away to be impaled on the sinister devices and transformed into hideous terror weapons.

Ashley had yelled at Kaidan that her team would hold off the enemies so that the technically savvy LT could assist C-Sec to restore communications. Their plan worked, but at a great cost. Gripping her assault rifle tightly, Ashley scowled at the bodies sprawling on the floor around her. "Gladstone and Waaberi didn't make it."

"We lost Barrett, Crosby, and Felawa in the air control tower, too. The geth blew the top of the floor. They didn't have a chance." Kaidan said with a grimace.

"So what now?" Ashley asked, feeling angry and lost.

"We stay here and guard the place until reinforcements arrive. C-Sec needs the emergency channel open. Short range radio just won't cut it. And Chief," Kaidan narrowed his eyes warningly at her. "Don't be a hero. Getting zapped by exploding Husks is not how you want to go down. The Commander will have my head if we don't come out of this alive."

Ashley cracked a tired grin. "Duly noted, LT."

x-x-x

"Hold on tight!" Shepard shouted out her warning as she stepped hard on the gas. Downloading Vigil into the quantum bluebox took only minutes, but it was minutes too long in her opinion. With all her preparations, there was never a guarantee everything would go according to plan. For all she knew, last time she had stopped Saren in time out of sheer dumb luck. No amount of clever scheming on her part could outsmart Lady Fortuna.

So what if she left a whole team of heavy hitters on the Citadel to delay Saren from reaching the master control unit? All she did was put her best people in the rogue Spectre's crosshair. That was not a safe place for anyone to be. Her foreknowledge and her meticulous planning had saved Kaidan and Kirrahe's men on Virmire, however the battle of Citadel was a completely different story. Shepard had made the conscious decision to allow this battle to take place when she had ample opportunities to prevent it from happening at all.

Putting millions in danger, letting hundreds of thousands of people die so that trillions would have a better chance at winning the war against the Reapers. In essence, she had done the equivalent of what the Illusive Man did to fight the Collectors. What a monstrous crime she had committed.

To gain the Council's support to retake Earth and to build the Crucible, humanity must be regarded as a valuable asset as well as a formidable ally they could not afford to antagonize. What would be a stronger show of goodwill by bringing in the cavalry to take down Sovereign and save the Council? Admiral Hackett had been alerted discreetly through a secure back channel (i.e. her mother had passed along her heavily encrypted message directly to him). Fifth Fleet would be much better prepared to mobilize at a moment's notice than last time.

More importantly, this battle must not be avoided so that the entire galactic community would be shocked into action. Using the blood of the innocents as ink, she was going to to drill the painful message through everyone's skull - if the _Citadel_ was not safe, no where else would be, either. The Protheans on Ilos laid down their lives to give the next cycle a fighting chance against the Reapers. Shepard refused to let their sacrifices go to waste.

Countless new research only got the necessary funding to proceed after the world saw what the Reapers could do. Take the Thanix cannon, for example. This weapon was developed by the turians from studying Sovereign's main gun. Without this technology being made available to all Council races, conventional weaponry could barely scratch a Reaper's paint job. Last time around, only half of Sovereign's hull was recovered in the aftermath. The other half was secreted away into high security laboratories around the galaxy, by all the races. While the Council very publicly denounced Shepard's claim that Sovereign was a Reaper, behind the scenes, they were frantically conducting research to gain an edge over each other.

Shepard could not afford to lose this. No. She needed all the races to get into a heated arms race in preparation for the Reaper invasion, regardless of whether they believed in her claim or not. Heck. She needed _Cerberus_ to get their hands on some Reaper tech from Sovereign's body so their scientists could build EDI. Without EDI, they had no chance of defeating the Collectors, much less the Reapers.

But she was getting ahead of herself. If she couldn't stop Saren in time, they were all doomed.

"Brace for impact!" Shepard shouted as she rammed the Mako into the Conduit's light.

x-x-x

"This is fun!" Wrex cackled as he plowed down several geth troopers with his shotgun. He had to dodge out of the way of a shot from a Colossus after whacking a shocktrooper over the head. His sudden movement caused the Colossus to misfire at the wrong position. Instead of hitting its intended target, its impressive artillery round reduced a group of unfortunate geth troopers in the vicinity to pieces. "The only thing that's better than killing geth, is watching geth killing each other." The battlemaster exclaimed gleefully.

Zaeed jumped out from behind a crate, stormed up to the hulking machine, and let loose a barrage of bullets at close range before diving behind a sturdy metal column to avoid the return fire. "I should get paid extra for anti-armor duty!"

"Bah! Quit your whining, princess." Biotics crackled around his body in a shroud of visible cyan light. With a growl, Wrex threw his hand forward, forcibly tossing two nearby geth troopers at the Colossus. At the same time, he sprinted at the distracted anti-tank unit with a warcry while unloading pellets of incendiary rounds into the machine with his trusty shotgun.

While Wrex was occupied, Zaeed emerged from cover and sprayed a rain of coverfire to keep the other geth units away from Wrex's dual with Colossus.

All around them, the streets were littered with debris. There was leaked fuel everywhere, so inevitably, everything was burning. Even the Presidium lake was on fire.

When the geth boarded the Citadel, Wrex was hanging out with Zaeed near the krogan statue, swapping old battle stories with the cantankerous sour-faced merc. Whatever other operations Shepard had Zaeed roped into before, he was asked to drop it all to come to Citadel to provide much needed fire power. Wrex was actually impressed. He had known the guy only by reputation, but had never worked with him in person. He was pleased to find the man did not disappoint. Other than his unusual obsession with his gun, this human was mostly tolerable.

"Incoming!" Wrex bellowed. Both of them dove behind cover again to avoid another anti-armor round from the heavy duty geth unit.

"What's taking so long?" Zaeed yelled at the krogan.

"This thing's shield is damn tough, but it's slow. We'll finish it soon enough." Wrex growled.

A vicious grin split Zaeed's scarred face. "Bringing down shields is my specialty." He boasted as he adjusted the ammo setting of his assault rifle.

The two veterans mercs bolted out from cover again, guns ablazing. Using the brief moments it took for the Colossus to charge up its artillery round, they sank as many bullets into the machine as they could, before jumping out of the way and looping around the hulking mechanical beast in two different directions. They ran circles around it, firing as fast as they could until their weapons were too hot to hold. Slowly but surely, the Colossus finally crumpled to the floor in a giant heap of twisted metal.

"It's gonna blow!" Zaeed shouted with alarm. The two of them dove behind a decorative pillar with their heads down. Except, even though the broken machine was sparking and twitching with excessive electricity, nothing happened.

Wrex poked his head out cautiously. "It's not gonna blow." He said, sounding almost disappointed.

Behind them, the mass relay monument lit up again. Wrex docked back down behind cover and ready his weapon. The heavy whirring sound that came through the miniature relay hinted that the next geth walking through that portal was going to be another big one.

It wasn't geth.

Wrex and Zaeed jumped out of the way at the last second as a familiar looking Mako barreled out of the Conduit and crashed landed on the heap of partially melted Colossus, further reducing the broken geth to smaller pieces.

"Haha! Look who's finally here!" Wrex cheered loudly at the upside down Mako.

"Holy hell!" Zaeed hurried to open the hatch and helped them out of the vehicle. "What kind of maniac drives a Mako through the mass relay?"

"Ugh. Thanks." Shepard tumbled out of the upturned Mako and rolled out of the way for Liara and Tali to get out. Looking around at the fire and destruction in dismay, the Commander asked the mercs, "have you seen Saren?"

Both men shook their heads. "No." Wrex answered. "We were at the other side of Presidium when it went down. Haven't seen him. Killed a few Colossus, though."

A dull rumble crawled through the ground of the station. Shepard jerked her head up and saw the ward arms slowly began to pull close. "I have a good idea where he is now. Liara, Tali, with me. Zaeed, Wrex," She stabbed at the direction of the Mako with a thumb. "I have a cache of Prothean data bank sitting inside the Mako. I need you to keep it safe."

"Consider it done." Wrex cocked his shotgun. "Go kill the bastard for everything he's done."

Shepard replied by cocking her shotgun while mirroring the same savage grin on the krogan battlemaster's scar-ridden face. "With pleasure."

x-x-x

A/N: Hey I'm back! The wedding was literally the best party of my life. Expensive as hell, but totally worth it... and I've used the time off to replay the trilogy. Twice. Currently in the middle of my third replay. Yes, I have a problem. And for those who are wondering, this is not a crossover. All references to Dragon Age are just me paying homage to all things BioWare.


	15. I-15: Saren

Book I - Chapter 15: Saren

Vasir struggled to take in a ragged breath as she activated her Omni-tool to dispense the last unit of medi-gel built into her suit. She absolutely loathed assault drones. The little mechanical flyers were highly resistant to biotics, and hard to hit with a gun. A couple of them, she could handle. But a dozen of them swarming at her all at once? It was only a matter of time before she was flanked. At the last moment, she had managed to charge across the room to get away from the worst of it, but the swarm of drones had shattered her barrier before she could find cover.

It would have been an insulting end for a battle hardened Spectre to be killed by _drones_ , Vasir thought. If she was going to die in battle, it had better be at the hands of a worthy opponent - someone like Shepard. Preferably, with lots of explosions, plus a high speed car chase in there somewhere. The only proper way for her to go was to go out with a bang, not a whimper. Anything but this. Nailed by drones and slowly bleeding out from bullet wounds while the Citadel was facing a full on invasion.

Scowling at the former C-Sec officer who was lying face down in a puddle of his own blood, Vasir wished she had not wasted a unit of medi-gel on the turian earlier when a rocket blasted half of his face off. She could have saved that medi-gel for herself instead. Now she was too injured to move, let alone stop Saren from taking control of the station.

From where she was sitting, Vasir had a perfect view of whatever Saren was doing in the middle of the Council Chamber. Having been a Spectre for almost two hundred years, she had never known there was a master console for the station located right here, hidden in plain sight.

They really tried. Garrus' traps had worked beautifully. The first wave of geth troopers pouring into the Chamber were all obliterated in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, the traps had worked a little too well. Reinforcements were promptly called in, which included a few rocket launching Primes as well as a squadron of drones in addition to the regular geth shock troops. Saren, the paranoid bird face, narrowly avoided all the traps by conveniently riding on his hovercraft. The explosions did little other than to annoy him. Garrus valiantly attempted to snipe him from a distance, but Saren set three Primes on him as soon as the first shot nicked his shield. After taking down two Primes by himself, the former C-Sec took a rocket to his face before Vasir destroyed the last Prime in between dodging flying turrets dogging her steps. If the poor bastard somehow lived through this, he would never be pretty again.

Speaking of appearance, the rogue Spectre looked positively mutilated. Vasir squinted tirely at Saren, and noticed all the synthetic pieces grafted onto his person. She still remembered Saren to be a young and handsome newbie in the Spectre rank a few decades back. How he had changed. Wincing from the excruciating pain radiating from her torso, she picked up Garrus' discarded sniper rifle with shaky hands and tried but failed to keep the weapon steady.

"I always thought you were the smart one, Vasir. Sit tight and don't try anything. You are already defeated." Saren spoke up quietly, not even turning in Vasir's direction to acknowledge her existence. His voice echoed loudly in the empty Chamber amidst the soft whirring sounds of geth troopers stationed inside the room. "I was so sure you would be the person the Council sent out to catch me when my cover was blown. Never did I think they would send a _human_ after me. A human!" He spat out the word like a curse.

"I get the feeling you don't like Commander Shepard very much." Vasir snarked drily, coughing out blood as she chuckled at the incensed expression on Saren's face.

That got his attention. Saren whirled around and proceeded to rant at his former colleague with an insane glint in his eyes. "She ruined my carefully crafted plan! For twenty years I laboured to save the galaxy from extinction, and she nearly undid all my hard work! The bomb she planted on Virmire almost killed me! But the joke's on her. In hindsight, this setback was a blessing in disguise. Sovereign has used this opportunity to improve me. Made me stronger. Behold! I am the future of our civilizations, the apex of evolution - the perfect blend of organic and synthetic, working in harmony. You'll see. The Reapers are here to save us from ourselves."

"Listen to yourself! You are insane!" Vasir growled in disgust. She could hardly believe this mad turian was going to be the death of them all.

"I am the only one who is seeing clearly. It's the rest of the world that's blind." Saren gestured at the windows looking out the station. "Watch. Sovereign is here. Nothing can stop us now."

Vasir watched in utter despair as Sovereign rammed through several frigates with brute force before cutting a heavy cruiser in half with one shot from its main gun. "Fucking hell!" Vasir grimaced at the following explosions. Each cruiser had an average of three hundred C-Sec officers on board. By her estimate, a quarter of the C-Sec garrison fleet had been destroyed during the few minutes since the ambush. That would be ten thousand dead. Goddess knew how many more were killed right here on the Citadel.

She dared not contemplate how many civilians were being butchered on the station right this moment. There were thirteen million civilians on board the Citadel. Even if they won, which was looking less and less likely by the second, the casualties would be staggering.

The sky darkened as the ward arms completely closed with the Reaper locked inside, perching on top of the tower like a giant insect on a stalk of grass. Short of blasting a hole through the outer hulls and killing millions in the process, they were completely cut off from outside help. No reinforcement could reach the station, not while the entire Citadel garrison was busy fighting off the geth fleet out there. Even if they could use the short-range radio to ask for help, whatever pathetic reinforcements C-Sec could muster under these circumstances had to fight through an entire army of geth guarding the tower to get to the Chamber. This was a job for elite special ops, not soft Presidium patrols who wrote tickets fining tourists for littering...

 _Wait._ Vasir perked up with a slight jolt. Technically, they were not completely isolated. Saren invaded the Citadel through the Conduit, so it stood to reason that Shepard could also board the station through the same backdoor. Vasir herself might be out of the fight, but not all hope was lost. Not yet.

Time to dust off her Goddess-given asari talent and see if she could literally talk her opponent to death.

"I don't understand." Vasir puzzled out loud, sounding genuinely confused. "What do you mean that the Reapers are here to save us from ourselves?"

Saren's mandibles fluttered in a turian equivalent of a satisfied grin. "Look around. Organics are beings of chaos. We need the machines to bring us order. Without the Reapers, we are destined to destroy ourselves with our boundless greed and ambition. There will be no true peace until we submit to the Reaper's rule. All they ask is servitude. People like us, we are useful to them. Submission is much preferable to annihilation, wouldn't you agree?"

"That's it? Peace? That's the best excuse you can come up with to justify your cowardice?" Vasir sneered at Saren's scarred face. The eerie blue glow of synthetic grafts strongly reminded her of those Husks creatures she saw on Virmire. She inwardly wondered just how much of Saren was still inside this misshapen body, and how much of it was replaced by soulless machine. The sight of it almost made Vasir feel sorry for him. Almost.

Saren shrugged off her accusation with a dismissive wave. "What you call bravery is what I call pointless pride. The Protheans were too arrogant to recognize that the only salvation for their survival was to submit and obey their betters. See, this is exactly why I didn't bother to bring the matter forward to the Council. Like the Protheans, they are willing to sacrifice trillions of innocent lives to satisfy their pride. They are politicians. You and I, we are different. We are soldiers, we've seen wars upclose. It's people like us who get to make the hard decisions. We understand what must be done to preserve lives."

Unable to hold back a derisive snort, Vasir easily countered Saren's argument by pointing out an obvious flaw in his logic. "Let's say we submit. And then what? Do you really expect the Reapers to hold up their end of the bargain? For all we know, the Protheans did make the same deal with the Reapers, only for the machines to betray them."

A fleeting look of uncertainty rippled across the rogue Spectre's face before it turned into a scowl. "You know nothing! You cannot begin to comprehend what the Reapers are capable of!"

Vasir had to remind herself that she was trying to stall him by getting him to talk, not making him angry by arguing with him. It was very difficult to resist, though. "You're right. I have no idea what the Reapers want, and I can't imagine what they can do. Help me understand."

"Isn't it obvious?" Saren gestured at the half destroyed Council Chamber with a sweeping hand wave. "The Citadel, the mass relays, the Reapers built them. They were the invisible hands that guided the formation of our civilizations. They are superior, but they are fundamentally different from us. They know organics are too self-absorbed to submit to their benevolent leadership, so they require us to act as their intermediates to reduce the resistance. It is for our own good. You are a Spectre, you should understand..."

Vasir flinched in absolute shock when a glowing stasis bubble encased the rambling turian and cut off his incoherent rant. Following the sudden attack, all the geth inside the Chamber sprang into action and began shooting at the unexpected intruders.

 _Less than five seconds._ Vasir watched in utter disbelief as the first human Spectre flawlessly executed four consecutive biotic charge plus nova combos, ricocheted from one group of enemies to the next, finishing her attack with a final charge at the still trapped turian. She didn't know what Shepard did exactly, perhaps it was the timing of the strike, but her charge destabilized the stasis bubble and caused a massive biotic explosion. This vicious biotic backlash literally tore Saren's body to shreds in various places.

Shepard rolled behind cover, followed up with a barrage of shotgun blasts at the staggered foe, not pausing to allow Saren any breathing room. While the Commander was busy tearing the rogue Spectre apart, the young T'Soni and the quarian girl were hunkered down at the far end of the Chamber, slowly pressing on from two separate routes to carefully pick off geth troopers that had survived Shepard's initial assault.

Faster than Vasir thought possible, Shepard had recovered enough to charge at Saren again. Instead of rapidly expanding her barrier to perform another nova attack, Shepard pulled her glowing fist back and punched the disgraced Spectre so hard, Vasir swore she heard his carapace crack.

A shower of dark blue blood and gore splattered all over Shepard's body, staining the red of her armor a vivid shade of purple. Vasir realized with astonishment mixed in with not some small amount of satisfaction, that Shepard had most likely crushed Saren's heart inside his caved-in chest, if the amount of blood geysering out of his ruined torso was any indication. Not taking any chances, Shepard unloaded three more shotgun shells into the dead turian's skull to pulverize his brain before kicking the blood soaked corpse off the walkway and letting it crash through the glass panel into the lower garden.

In that instance, Vasir came to the unpleasant conclusion that she did not wish to cross Shepard if she enjoyed staying alive. As vexing as it was to admit it, Shepard was the more powerful vanguard than herself was. It hurt her pride to admit this, but, Shepard was _the_ most deadly vanguard Vasir had ever seen. Not even a seasoned krogan battlemaster can match this unstoppable juggernaut of head-butting destruction. Taking into account how ruthless, resourceful, and unrelenting this human had proven to be, Vasir never wanted to be Shepard's enemy.

"Area cleared!" Tali called out.

"Good job, everyone." Shepard grinned charmingly at her squadmates. Even while covered in blood and sweat while stinking of smoke and gore, the broad smile on her face was nothing but genuine and sweet. "Hey, Vasir!" The woman called out to her as she worked over the master console to undo whatever Saren did to takeover the station. "Glad to see you here. Are you injured?"

"I'll live. Can't say the same for your friend Vakarian." Vasir replied with a pained grimace.

Shepard's response was immediate. "Liara, Tali, first aid, ASAP! I'll make sure the stupid thing works." She growled as she stayed close to the console to work over it with her Omni-tool. The ferocious expression on her face told Vasir that she would much rather check on the turian herself if whatever she was doing weren't as important as it apparently was.

Yet another tremor rumbled across the station. The ward arms that were previously locked tight by Saren to cut the garrison off from attacking Sovereign began to open. Communications from priority channels started to pour in over the console all at once. This impossible human had done it. She had unlocked the station and restored communications. She had saved the Citadel.

"... Requesting backup to hold position. C-Sec HQ comm room is secured, but not for long. We're flanked..."

"... Ward level two to six secured. Fire contained in section D-14. Geth pushing in on connection hub…"

"... Evacuation in process. Requesting immediate medical attention…"

"... Shield down to forty percent! We need help! I repeat, the Council is onboard!" Screamed a distinct asari voice over the comm. Vasir recognized the voice. That was one of the highest ranked and most influential people within the asari High Command, the commanding officer of Destiny Ascension, Matriarch Lidanya.

"... Normandy to Commander Shepard. Please respond!"

Shepard quickly touched the console to respond to the hail that demanded her attention by name. "Shepard speaking. Joker, where are you?"

T'Soni and the quarian arrived at Vasir's location and began to perform emergency first aid on the unconscious Garrus. Vasir couldn't quite make out what the quarian was muttering under the bucket, but she had a feeling it was some kind of explesive. There was so much blood, and one side of Garrus' face was a twisted, blackened ruin, but the tough bastard was still breathing.

"I'm sitting in the Andura sector with the Fifth Fleet. Admiral Hackett is asking for your assessment, Commander. Just give us the order. We're ready to move in!" Joker said over the comm. He sounded almost eager.

Vasir held her breath as she scrutinized the first human Spectre with great trepidation. After being mistreated so many times by the Council since before her reluctant appointment to the Spectre rank, one could hardly blame Shepard for prioritizing human lives over the same unhelpful politicians. Hell, she even agreed those stuck-up fools had it coming. See if the Council could deny the existence of Reapers while Sovereign tore the Destiny Ascension in half. Let their gruesome death be a lesson to the next Council what a mistake it was to disregard Shepard's warnings.

So it was a complete surprise to her that the first human Spectre chose to do the exact opposite of common sense without a trace of hesitation. "Save the Council. Protect Destiny Ascension. Once the dreadnaught is safe, regroup and focus fire on the Reaper."

Kneeling next to Vakarian, the quarian girl spoke up. "Garrus is fine, more or less. He has lost some blood, but the timely medi-gel application had stabilized him. I'm never more glad turians have a metallic carapace over their faces. Still, we need to get him to surgery as soon as we can. I'm worried about potential brain damage. With head injuries, you can never be sure."

The young T'Soni held up her Omni-tool and scanned Vasir with a worried frown on her face. "You've lost too much blood. It's not the same as taking a hit from a rocket, but all the bullet wounds add up." She said, her chiding tone sounded awfully close to scolding.

Vasir bare her teeth in an annoyed scowl. This little pureblood was being way too cheeky for her liking. Alas, she was in no position to give the upstart who was only a fraction of her age a proper tongue lashing. The edge of her vision was getting dim, and she felt so faint it was hard to keep her eyes open. A familiar soothing chill glided down her spine. Vasir took a shallow breath, and felt the newly injected dose of medi-gel numb the worse pain around her chest. It wasn't perfect, but at least she didn't feel like she was about to pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Hang in there. We'll take you to a hospital soon. Saren is dead. His plan has failed. And the Alliance is coming in force. Everything is going to be alright." T'Soni reassured her again.

Vasir wanted to tell the smooth-skinned maiden to shut up and leave her alone, but what came out of her mouth was a breathless "thanks" instead. She looked out the windows to stare at the fierce battle outside for a moment before tearing her eyes away. There was no use worrying about other people. T'Soni had it right. Saren's invasion had failed. Since communication was restored, it was a matter of time before reinforcements arrived to relieve them.

And by Athame's tits, was it satisfying to watch Shepard execute Saren! Vasir wished she had been the one to crush his heart and pulverize his brain. A traitor like him deserved a thousand deaths for all the pain and suffering he had caused.

Another harsh tremor shook the station, interrupting Vasir's idle musing. She sat up in alarm as a bolt of visible energy shot through the Chamber, and struck the narrow walkway Shepard was standing on, sending her crashing through the decorative glass panels down to the lower garden. "What's happening?!" Vasir struggled to her feet, craning her neck over the railing to get a better look. What she saw in the lower garden was the stuff of nightmares.

Saren's corpse, still dripping with blood and bits of liquefied brain, got up on its feet. The red lightning from earlier shrouded the dead body, saturated it with writhing tendrils of sinister aura. There was no other way to describe the undead construct: it stank of pure evil. Flesh and bone of the body burnt away as the numerous cybernetic implants absorbed the energy and began to transform this once organic being into a mechanical abomination.

Gagging at the acrid stench of charred meat and melted plastic, Vasir watched, slack jawed, as the lifeless body rapidly being perverted into a hideous husk before her very eyes. There was no doubt. Sovereign did this. This sentient machine had repurposed the dead to serve as its slave soldier.

T'Soni and the quarian both shouted in horror before racing down the stairs to help their Commander fight off the monstrosity. This Saren-Husk was faster and stronger than any enemy Vasir had seen before. In the back of her head, she briefly wondered what an asari husk or a krogan husk might look like before she forcefully shoved the stray thought off her conscious mind with a shudder.

Through the dead Spectre's throat, the Reaper spoke. Its deep, savage inflection had Vasir shiver in revulsion. "I am Sovereign! And this station is MINE!"

Down in the lower garden, Shepard rolled behind cover and fired off a quick throw at the Saren-Husk. She missed. More accurately, the enemy dodged out of the way before it could be snagged by Shepard's biotics. Not pausing for breath, Shepard charged in on the Husk and followed up with a close-range shotgun blast to its face. The brutal combo did not even stun the undead construct. Instead, Saren-Husk shrugged off the attack, grabbed onto Shepard's throat with both talons, and squeezed.

Crimson lightning rolled off Saren-Husk's body, viciously eating into its victim's deteriorating barrier. Shepard clawed at the hands around her neck, but she was not strong enough to pry them off.

Vasir raised Garrus' sniper rifle, aimed, and missed Saren-Husk's head by a whole lot. She vowed to spend more time at the range to polish up her sniping skill as soon as she could. This was just embarrassing.

Shepard's hands shot up and gripped her opponent's forearms. What she did next had Vasir rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

Saren-Husk's grip on Shepard slackened before dropping the human entirely. It doubled over in pain as visible wisps of biotics erupted out of its body as if its blood was boiling in its veins. At the same time, Shepard's barrier began to rapidly repair itself and strengthen with a brilliant layer of diamond hard coating.

Shepard could reave.

Vasir squinted at the Commander with her mouth hanging open. A human of not even thirty years of age had the ability to sling around this incredible variety of biotic powers with such mastery was just… ridiculous. Typical Shepard, though. She had seen the human Spectre use singularity, warp, barrier, stasis, charge, and now she had just pulled off a perfect reave under duress like a fucking justicar. Vasir highly doubted the Alliance standard training program included _that_ particular skill. This would also explain why Shepard did not seem worried about her mediocre barrier. All she needed to do was to reave an enemy to gain the same benefit of damage reduction before charging into battle.

As a powerful biotic, combined with hundreds of years of experience, Vasir herself simply did not have the innate aptitude to perform the same technique in combat situation. It was obvious to her that Shepard not only had dedication to hone her skills, she also had the raw talent for biotics that even asaris would be jealous of. More importantly, she must have had an extremely proficient mentor who saw her potential and carefully cultivated her to blossom as a biotic powerhouse.

With a bolt of clarity, Vasir suddenly realized just how much Shepard had been holding back this whole time: what _else_ was she hiding? She actually felt quite hurt by the deception. Logically, it was a very prudent move on Shepard's part, considering Vasir's own shady connection to the Shadow Broker. But still.

"Shepard!" Young T'Soni yelled as she and the quarian jumped down to the lower garden to join the fray. Her hastily casted stasis was lackluster, but it did buy them all a precious few seconds. "Are you hurt? Talk to me." T'Soni sounded desperate while running her Omni-tool over Shepard to check for any sign of injuries.

"I'm ok!" Shepard quickly reassured the maiden. Her voice sounded a bit hoarse from the chokehold she suffered from earlier. "I was careless. Didn't think he was gonna grab me. Let's see him get out of this one." With a vicious snarl, Shepard lashed out at the frozen target and erected a stasis bubble around him before T'Soni's own stasis wore off. "Fire at will!" She yelled. At her order, the entire squad pulling out their shotguns, and let them rip.

Vasir had to say that it was the most satisfying thing to see the unnatural Reaper construct getting completely shredded by incendiary bullets until there was absolutely nothing left. Letting out a breath she had been subconsciously holding, Vasir couldn't help but sink back down and begin to cackle. The euphoria that accompanied the end of a tough battle was half the reason why she was so giddy. The other half of that could probably be contributed to the medi-gel floating in her system.

"Easy there. Laughing so hard has got to hurt." Shepard made it back to the balcony in a very short time, and was now kneeling next to the unconscious Vakarian with her Omni-tool out.

"Nope. It didn't hurt that much. In fact, I feel great. I might have over-dosed on the medi-gel though." Vasir giggled.

Shepard gave her a wry grin. She was about to reply with some witty remark, when a gigantic piece of ship debris smashed through the windows and crash landed right in the middle of the Council Chamber. The texture and shape of that hunk of broken hull looked nothing like typical turian cruisers, which heavily favoured clean, straight lines.

"Is that…?" T'Soni started.

"Yup. That's a piece of Sovereign's hull. They've done it! Vanguard of our destruction, ha!" Shepard said with a wide smirk on her face. Even though she looked bone tired, her lively green eyes were shining with exhilaration from the battle high. She paused for a brief moment to bask in their hard won victory, before getting a hold of herself. "This is Commander Shepard to C-Sec HQ. Rogue Spectre Saren has been terminated. What's your status?"

"Commander?!" A male human voice replied to the hail. "This is Alenko speaking. It was bad when it started, but we've held on to C-Sec HQ throughout the siege. Alliance ground reinforcements are coming in as we speak. I'm sorry, Commander. We've lost some people."

Vasir could see the muscle along Shepard's jaw jump as she clenched her teeth tightly together. "You and Ashley Ok?" She asked, sounding more tentative than Vasir was used to.

"Yes, ma'am. She's out like a light though. Got a nasty bump on her head. Knocked over by a Juggernaut."

Shepard visibly let out a relieved sigh. "Now we know her head is not as hard as a Juggernaut's ablative armor plating. In any case, good job Lieutenant. Shepard out."

"Why do humans feel the need to crack jokes all the time? That one's not even funny." Vasir complained mildly, more peeved by the sudden need to take a nap than anything.

Shepard knelt down next to her and lightly slap her cheeks to get her attention. "Hey, hey. Stay awake. Damn it. Tali, scout ahead. Watch out for stragglers. Liara, lift Garrus. I'll get Vasir. They need to go in surgery ASAP. I'll call the Normandy for pick up..."

x-x-x

At the end of the day, when she was alone in her cabin reading the list of honored dead who had fallen during the battle of the Citadel, Shepard had to wonder if anything she did made any difference.

She remembered their names. They had been seared into her brain as much as the beacon had marked her soul. Every time she stepped out of the elevator onto the crew deck of the SR-2, they were there, silently judging all her choices, all her mistakes.

It was times like this, Shepard had to remind herself that the list of names on the wall would be noticeably shorter this time around. Every name that did not make the wall was a small victory. Of the twelve marines Kaidan and Ashley led to defend the C-Sec HQ, only five came out alive. She thought the war had prepared her for this, losing people. But the inexplicable time travel had spoilt her into deluding herself that maybe, just maybe, she could save everyone.

How very naive of her.

Still, even though she could not possibly save everyone, her planning _had_ made a difference. Pulling the Consort in for support had paid off a hundred fold. Sha'ira had managed to use her own influence to sway Executor Pallin to hold a station wide evec drill a month before the invasion. This added preparedness was instrumental in shortening C-Sec response time and minimizing civilian panic and confusion. By assigning Kaidan and Ashley to defend the C-Sec HQ and keeping the emergency channel open, civilian casualty had been reduced by twenty percent compared to last time. Translating that to hard number, it was about eight thousand lives saved.

Shepard repeated the mantra that even though she could not save them all, she could save some of them. When the Reapers come in force, people will be slaughtered in the billions. This was the cold, hard, unavoidable reality. It would be endless for her if she fell into the trap of obsessing over every single life lost because of this goddamn war.

The batarians were doomed because they had the Leviathan of Dis in their possession for so many years. What she had Charn working on in the Bahak system was not just to save lives, but to ensure the survival of the batarian race. It was frustrating how their pride also spelt their demise in that they would rather die fighting alone than live fighting alongside other races against a common enemy.

This was only the beginning. Funny how she was working so hard to preserve the batarian race even though she had hated them with a burning passion her whole life. Considering what was to come, it made sense she should not be the only person putting aside her own prejudice and making sacrifices. Krogans and turians had to make nice. The geth and quarians had to stop fighting each other. Salarians had to stop scheming long enough to help out. It didn't matter how pretty they were, even the asaris had to squat in the trenches and break a nail when their homeworld was in flames.

There was still so much that needed to be done, and so little time and resources to do it all. It really pissed her off that she had to put everything aside to deal with this next crisis before she could do anything else.

 _One more month._

Shepard put down the data pad on the desk and moved toward the med bay. Kaidan joined her on their way over. "I'm almost done with the report. I'll submit it by the end of today."

"Did you get your hands looked at? That burn doesn't look good."

Kaidan scrunched up his face and held up his bandaged hands. "This? Don't worry about it. I'll get it fixed when Dr. Chakwas has time. She's got enough to worry about. I swear, somebody clever needs to invent a better heat management system for firearms. It's obscene how easily geth can overheat our weapons. I have my biotics and Omni-tool to fall back on when my pistol fails. Regular marines are not so lucky."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, amused at his comment. "Maybe something like a detachable heat sink that can be quickly replaced in case of overheat. It's a step backward in that it resembles the bad old days of limited ammunitions, but it's better than having your weapons randomly explode in your hands." _And maybe I should put my future knowledge to good use and patent the idea. I certainly had modded enough weapons and handled enough thermal clips in my life to make it work. Better yet, I can always credit the geth for this innovation._ Shepard added in her mind. _Heh. No one will suspect a thing._

When they entered the med bay, Dr. Chakwas was just finishing up with her last patient. Private Fredricks, like almost every single marine who participated in the battle, was sporting severe burns on his palms. There would have been a few missing fingers to go along with those burns if he hadn't paid attention to the status of his firearm. Shepard's hand twitched in sympathy, remembering the shock and the pain of losing a few digits when she was a sixteen-year-old girl on Mindoir.

"Commander." Ashley greeted her with a grimace. She remained seated on one of the beds with her head held tenderly in both hands. Shepard noticed those hands were heavily bandaged as well. Burns from an overheated rifle, most likely. There were also blotches of painful looking contusions all over her body. Those black eyes would probably take at least a week to fade.

"You look like shit."

Ashley snorted out a laugh before moaning pathetically. "Please don't make me laugh."

Shepard tilted her head. "Well, your head is certainly bloody, but unbowed."

Ashley blinked owlishly at her commanding officer like she just sprout horns. "Invictus. One of my dad's favourite."

Shepard grinned. Of course she remembered. It was one of the last good memories she had about Ashley before the failed coup, before she had to shoot her stubborn friend herself. Just one more reason why she hated Cerberus. "I heard you lost a headbutting contest with a Juggernaut. You need some rack time. Head injury is no joke. I want you to take it easy for a while until our good doctor clears you for active duty. Got it?"

"Got it. And Commander," Ashley lowered her gaze in shame. "I'm sorry. If I had been better, I could have…"

"That's enough." Shepard interrupted. She didn't need Ashley's apology for losing men under her command. "We all knew the risks going in. Don't blame yourself. A lot of people on the Citadel are alive right now because you and your squad did their job admirably. Focus on that."

Nodding solemnly, Ashley quietly replied, "yes, ma'am."

"Humans always want to save everyone. Turians are taught since birth that you can't save everyone. We exploited that during the First Contact War. Thought you've learnt your lesson by now." Garrus wheezed out the dry comment. He was reclining on a bed with the right side of his face heavily bandaged up. It looked just as bad as she remembered when he took a rocket from that gunship on Omega.

Shepard leaned back against the hull with her arms crossed. "I see you've recovered enough to pick a fight."

Garrus gingerly touched the right side of his face with the tip of his talons. "No one would give me a mirror. How bad is it? Be honest."

Smiling fondly at the turian, Shepard replied, "don't worry, Garrus. You're just as ugly as before. Actually, this might be an improvement. I've heard some ladies dig scars. Although those ladies are mostly krogans. Ask Wrex, he'll tell you the same thing."

"Hahaha! Ow. It hurts to laugh. My face is barely holding together as it is. You are a cruel woman, Shepard."

"And you need to learn to duck."

Garrus shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll take your advice into consideration next time a rocket comes toward my face."

Shepard shook her head. "Anyways. Thank you. It was a tough assignment, delaying Saren. You've exceeded my expectation. I'm impressed."

"Now you're making me blush."

"Wait, turians blush?" Ashley piped up.

Garrus made a vague gesture. "Well… Not exactly the same way humans do. The literal translation is 'to make one's faceplates tickle with delight.' There is no human equivalent for that one."

"Huh. I guess not." Ashley conceded, leaning back to the bed in a more comfortable position.

Lying on the last bed at the far end of the med bay, Vasir complained with obvious disdain. "Would you all shut up? Some people need to sleep."

Strolling over to Vasir's bed, Shepard gave her senior colleague a lopsided grin. "Hear that, people? Be quiet. Vasir needs her beauty sleep."

Vasir shot her a glare that could have curdled milk. " _You_."

"Yes?" Shepard gave Vasir an innocent look.

"I hate you."

Shepard snickered. "You know, you remind me of someone. Does your father happen to be a krogan?"

Vasir pulled her lips back in a deep scowl. "I fucking hate your guts."

"Duly noted," Shepard said amiably, pretending to be oblivious to Vasir's bad mood. It was clear as day to her that the older woman was trying to use anger to hide her embarrassment. Owing other people a debt of gratitude must be a novel experience to the arrogant asari. "But I didn't hear a no. And thank you for all your help. It would have been a lot harder to sneak up on Saren if you haven't distracted him for me. More importantly, you spared me from having to listen to his inane rambling. For that alone, you have my gratitude. I'd never understand why villains always feel the need for a long-winded monologue before the final battle… Now that I think of it, I don't believe I even exchanged a word with Saren in person. Huh. Interesting."

Nope. Saren didn't catch her on Virmire, and he was trapped in a stasis bubble in the Council Chamber. They never got to bicker at all. Not that she was complaining.

Vasir rolled her eyes. "Just drop me off on the Citadel as soon as I can walk. Goddess. You are insufferable."

"I try."

"Commander Shepard." Dr. Chakwas approached her with her Omni-tool out. During the time she spent chatting with the wounded, the doctor had patched up Kaidan's burns in no time. "If you don't mind, it's your turn for a check up."

"I'm fine." Shepard quickly changed her tune upon seeing the disapproving look on the doctor's face. "I mean, I feel fine." She said a bit defensively.

"We'll see." Dr. Chakwas said before running a careful scan over Shepard with a slight frown on her brows. She lingered around Shepard's still sore neck for a few moments longer before putting her tool away. "Small cuts and bruises, mostly the usual post-mission collection of scrapes. Come with me. I'll get you something to reduce the swelling around your neck."

Shepard followed the physician to the med bay office where Liara used to stay. As soon as the door was closed, Dr. Chakwas immediately waved her Omni-tool to seal it shut before whirling around to address Shepard in a stern tone. "If your neck hasn't been reinforced with heavy bone weave, it would have been crushed to pieces. Microscopic cracks on your spine will heal on their own in a few days. Same for the muscle tearings. But please, do be more careful in the future."

"Believe me, Doc. I will definitely heed your advice. This should teach me not to charge in so recklessly. I should've tried something else to soften him up more before I charge in like a blind bull. I was impatient. It could have been much worse." Shepard shuddered, remembering what a Banshee could do to a person in its deadly grasp. Decapitation would have been instantaneous, but death by evisceration would have been a painful, drawn out way to go. Not to mention those biotic succubi ate people's minds for breakfast.

"Here. Keep the area iced." Dr. Chakwas handed her an ice pack from one of the temperature controlled storage crates before adding, "and no alcohol for three days."

"Yes, ma'am."

x-x-x

The Normandy stayed docked on the Citadel for a few more days to assist with the most urgent clean up. Meanwhile, the Alliance Fifth Fleet picked up the slack the decimated Citadel fleet left in the aftermath of the geth invasion and took over much of the regular patrol duties before more ships could be recalled to guard the Citadel space. Shepard's advanced warning to Admiral Hackett had paid off. The Fifth Fleet rode in in strength. So rather than losing eight ships, only three Alliance cruisers were destroyed in the battle - Shenyang, Emden, and Cape Town. Every ship they had saved was one more ship they could use against the Reapers in the coming war.

Shepard's squad understood what was coming even though murmurs of "advanced geth dreadnaught Sovereign" and "theoretical enemy Reapers" had already begun circulating around the Citadel. It seemed the Council wasted no time to start their disinformation campaign to quell dissent and pacify the masses.

Speaking of keeping secrets, Liara had been asking for more details on Operation Coventry, and Shepard could no longer keep dodging her questions. Now that Sovereign was in small pieces scattered across various secret labs each race thought nobody else knew about, it was time to move on to the next phase of the plan.

"I wanted Saren dead, and you not only delivered, you gave me the best fight of my life. You are a good friend, Shepard. It's been a good ride, but I have to go now." Wrex said while giving the Commander a firm handshake.

"I understand. You need to go back to Tuchanka to prepare the krogans for war. No one wants to be caught bare assed when the Reapers show up. Word of advice: if you have to beat all the opposition into submission for them to follow your lead, then do it. We will need this galaxy's toughest warriors on our side to win the war. When the Reapers come, the galaxy will remember why we need the krogans."

Wrex chortled at the comment. "What you're asking would require me to unite all the krogan clans. This would be a monumental feat. You said it like you have no doubt I can pull it off... And you're not joking. Heh heh heh. I know there's a reason I like you."

Shepard grinned at her friend and leaned in to say the next part with a low whisper. "This is your best chance to get what you always wanted - respect from the Council and leverage for the salarians to cough up a genuine cure for the genophage, not the garbage Saren came up with. When the time comes, I'll help you hold the Council's feet to the fire. I'm only offering this to you because I trust you to keep the krogans in line. I would never offer this to any other krogan."

"One hell of a prize you're promising, Shepard."

Shepard casually crossed her arms. "I'm only asking your entire race to bleed at the front line to fight the Reapers. I figure it's a fair exchange."

"When you put it that way." Wrex shook his head in amusement. "I guess this is goodbye, Shepard. Stay alive before I see you again."

Laughing at the unintended joke, Shepard replied, "no promises."

Wrex chuckled as he walked away from the dock.

The next squadmate to leave the crew was Garrus. Although the worse of the wound was covered by a thick padding of synthetic weave to promote healing, it was clear those scars would never fade without extensive cosmetic surgery. Despite the head wound, Garrus was almost back to full health. Apparently turians were a lot sturdier than their willowy build suggested.

"Any plan after this?" Shepard asked, studying the former C-Sec's posture for any hint of pain.

Garrus thought about it for a moment. "Not going back to C-Sec, that's for sure. I've heard about the rumours regarding Sovereign already. If that's the Council's stance on the Reapers, then I'm more than done with them. I guess that means there is no point in getting more Spectre training either. I'm honestly stumped at this point. I don't know. Travel for a bit, perhaps? I need to do some soul searching to figure this out."

Shepard rubbed her chin in thought. "If you don't mind me sticking my nose into your business, I do have a suggestion. You're not going to like it, but I think it's necessary."

"Let's hear it."

"Talk to your father."

Garrus's brows shot up in disbelieve. "Excuse me?"

Shepard put her hands up in a gesture for peace. "Just hear me out. You told me your father was a high ranking career C-Sec investigator. For a strict 'by-the-book' type of guy, I figure he will not be so fast to dismiss all the evidence pointing at an impending Reaper invasion like the Council did. To win this war, we need all the resources, all the allies we can get. Preparation needs to happen yesterday. By the time the Reapers arrive, it will be too late to start stockpiling resources. They are not the kind of enemy you can flank or out maneuver. They don't have colonies for you to bomb, they don't have a supply line to be cut off, and they can convert our dead to be their foot soldiers. We will never be able to outnumber them. Remember how many ships it took to take Sovereign down? And that's just one Reaper. When their number darkens our sky, it will be a massacre."

"Spirits. When you spell it out this way, it sounds completely hopeless."

"Not gonna lie. It's going to be brutal. I wish the Council would pull their heads outta their asses soon enough to start prepping for war. Otherwise..." Shepard let the end of the sentence trail off without finishing it.

Garrus understood. Letting out a long exhale, he nodded gravely at the Commander. "I'll see what I can do. If the Reapers think the turians will just roll over and die without putting up a fight, then they are sadly mistaken."

"One last thing." Shepard stuck out her hand. "It's been an honor, Garrus."

"The honor is all mine, Shepard." Garrus shook her hand. "And don't be a stranger. You let me know if you ever need a friendly sniper rifle by your side. Not saying you're a slouch with a firearm, you're just not me."

 _King of the bottle-shooter._ "You offering to be my guardian angel, Garrus? I'll hold you to it." Shepard teased.

"I'll see you around." Garrus said with a wave, and left the dock to catch the next transport back to Palaven.

Shepard silently apologized to her friends for the manipulation and deception. What she just did to Garrus was extremely unfair. Derailing his future might change his life in ways nobody could predict, but she did it anyway. Telling herself that it was necessary did not make her feel any better about the situation.

 _T minus twenty-five days._

Shepard counted down the days in her mind for the upteempth time again. She had been doing that a lot since they shot down Sovereign. This was another deception that has been eating at her conscience. Reflectively, Shepard put her hand in her trouser pocket to touch her most recent purchase. Amidst the chaos following the geth invasion, it was actually kind of amazing how many stores managed to stay open for her to find what she was looking for.

She never planned to propose. It just happened. Considering the circumstances, it was a stupid move. Her logical mind might caution restrain, but her heart did what it wanted. "Unfair" could not even begin to describe what she was about to put Liara through.

Jogging back through the Normandy's airlock, Shepard went to Joker to inform him to get ready for take off. She wanted to take the ship to Eden Prime for a high priority pick up before reporting back to Arcturus Station. It might take up to an hour for the dock to clear, considering the sorry state Citadel air control was in after the invasion. In the meantime, Shepard decided to bite the bullet and stop dodging Liara's questions.

It was going to be an extremely unpleasant talk, she suspected.

x-x-x

"Ah, Commander Shepard, it's good to see you… What the hell is that on your face?" Captain Anderson gawked at the bright red handprint plastered on one side of her face.

Shepard scratched her stinging cheek in discomfort. She was just glad Liara decided to slap her instead of warping her through the cabin door. "Had a run in with an angry asari." Shepard mumbled out a vague answer.

Apparently, as a divorced man himself, Anderson was intimately familiar with that particular battle wound. Nodding in understanding, he offered, "medi-gel?"

Shepard politely declined. "No, sir. I'm hoping the sight of it will make me look pathetic enough to garner some sympathy." _And if Liara feels sorry for me, maybe she would let me back in our bed sooner rather than later. Getting kicked out of my own cabin on my own ship is sad enough._

"Alright. Your choice." Anderson was having a hard time hiding the knowing smirk on his lips. Even Udina seemed quite amused by Shepard's predicament.

A little while before the dock was cleared for the Normandy to take off, Shepard was called in to answer a summon from the Council. The timing was highly unfortunate, considering she had just received a fresh handprint from her irated fiance. She hadn't even gotten the chance to grovel for forgiveness yet. Liara's fury was truly something to behold. To be honest, Shepard was more than a little terrified by it.

"Commander, thank you for coming so quickly…" Councillor Tevos started with the standard greeting but trailed off when she noticed the vivid red mark on Shepard's cheek. "Is that a handprint?"

Shepard cleared her throat while feigning ignorance. Clearly, no one bought it. "I don't know what you're talking about, ma'am."

Sparatus, that old crusty bird, snickered at her misfortune. To his credit, he did refrain from making a wisecrack. As for Valern, he was content to go with the flow and happily pretended to have taken no notice of the bright red mark on Shepard's freckled cheek.

"In any case," Tevos politely averted her gaze as she continued, "Ambassador, Captain, Commander Shepard. We have gathered here to recognize the enormous contributions of the Alliance forces in the war against Sovereign and the geth."

Shepard stood quietly and listened. All three Councillors heaped on heartfelt praise while expressing gratitude towards the Alliance in general and herself in particular. Hearing all this had reassured her that saving them was the right decision after all. Earning a little goodwill now might go a long way later when she needed their support. This feeling of joyous fluttering in her stomach went away as soon as Udina opened his mouth right after Tevos offered humanity a seat on the Council.

"On behalf of humanity and the Alliance, we thank you for this prestigious honour and humbly accept." The Ambassador said.

Both of her eyebrows shot up towards her hairline in outrage at what he just said. The bastard had the gall to act as if he was the shoo-in for the job! Her ruffled feathers were soothed again when Valern quickly added, "we will need a list of potential candidates to fill humanity's seat on the Council."

Smiling coyly at the Commander, Tevos further supplied, "given all that has happened, I am sure your recommendation will carry a great deal of weight, Commander. Do you support any particular candidate?"

With great satisfaction, Shepard deliberately turned to give Udina a lopsided smirk before answering Tevos' question. "We need someone with the courage to stand up for what he believes in, someone with honour and integrity - a competent leader who inspires loyalty. Captain Anderson embodies all the virtues humanity and the Alliance stand for. You can find no better person for the job."

Udina looked as if he had bitten into a lemon. "Are you sure about this, Commander? The captain is a soldier, not a politician."

"That's the whole point." Shepard gave her mentor a significant look, trusting him to pick up on what was not said. "The Council needs more people with military experience, especially now. The Citadel defense is in tatters and the geth are no longer content with hiding beyond the Perseus Veil. Captain Anderson will be a valuable addition to the Council." She did not bother to bring up the Reapers because it would only hurt her case by doing so.

Tevos seemed to agree. Either that or she did not care much for Udina either. "I think it's an inspired choice. The Council would welcome him with open arms, should he accept."

Anderson did not hesitate. He fully understood that Shepard had recommended him for a very specific reason. Spiting Udina was just a bonus. "I'm honoured, Councillor. As humanity's representative, I'll do everything in my power to help the Council rebuild."

Shepard tuned the Council out after that. Sovereign was dead, the general populace had a taste of war, the Councillors were grateful, and humanity was officially accepted into the big boys' league. Her business on the Citadel was done. Starting now, she had more urgent matters to attend to.

 _T minus twenty-five days._

x-x-x

A/N: "The Talk" Shepard had with Liara regarding Operation Coventry was intentionally skipped for the same reason why I didn't specify what secret Shepard's mom had told her. These secrets will be revealed in later chapters when the time is right. And yay, Kaidan or Ashley both lived! (For now.) This is officially the end for the first game. (Pose heroically in front of the backdrop of paragon blue light. Cue music. Enter electric guitar. Roll credits. Hit Esc. Export save file.)


	16. II-01: Coventry

Book II - Chapter 1: Coventry

Liara might have allowed her back into their bed, but she was by no means forgiven. On top of that, Liara was not the only person Shepard had to beg forgiveness from, if the collection of angry red handprints on her face was any indication. Sitting ramrod straight at the small round table in the privacy of her cabin, the Commander fidgeted uncomfortably under the stern gaze of Dr. Chakwas and Engineer Adams while waiting for their answers.

"I was wondering what could have possibly made Tali angry enough to resort to physical violence. Now I understand. Scuttlebutt had it that it was a lover's spat. Not many other reasons why you would get slapped by so many women in a single day." Dr. Chakwas commented dryly, noting the distinctive three-finger handprint on one side of Shepard's cheek and the two overlapping five-finger handprints on the other cheek.

In contrast to Dr. Chakwas' clear look of disapproval, Adams was staring at Shepard like she had just ritually sacrificed his puppy to summon demons.

"Please understand. I know I'm asking a lot from you, but I can't go to anyone else for help," Shepard began, only to be interrupted when Dr. Chakwas got up from her seat, raised her arms, and pulled her into a tight hug.

Stunned, Shepard simply sat there with her eyes wide open when the waterworks started. She had been so sure she was going to be slapped again.

"Oh, Commander. Of course I will help you. I'm not ok with this, but I will help you." Dr. Chakwas reluctantly moved back from the hug and quickly dried her tears with the back of her hand. "You can trust us to get the job done." She said. Even though she was sniffling to hold back more tears, the glint of determination in her eyes was as fierce as a protective mother bear.

Adams cleared his throat to get their attention. "I hate it as much as Karin does, but considering the circumstances, what you've proposed is the best course of action. I'm onboard. You can count on my full support, Commander."

"Thank you." Gaining the doctor's and the engineer's support was the most difficult part of the operation. She could have devised a different plan to exclude them, but the chance of the whole thing blowing up in her face was just too damn high; her current plan with the highest success rate was risky enough as it was.

Sitting back down on her seat, Dr. Chakwas ask, "who else knows?"

"So far, it's you two, Liara, Tali, Shiala, and two more agents I would like to keep quiet about. The fewer people who know about this, the more secure it's going to be."

Adams sucked in a breath through his teeth. "That's it?"

Shepard nodded. "For now."

Dr. Chakwas shook her head. "Not even the ground team?"

"No." Shepard let out a mirthless snort. "Not even my own mother."

Adams and Dr. Chakwas exchanged a look. It seemed they were both lost for words. "This is cold." The engineer finally said.

"Unfortunately, it is also necessary."

"Then I hope you have very thick skin, because at the end of the day, a lot of people are going to want to slap you." Dr. Chakwas pursed her lips into a thin line.

Shepard winced. "Please don't remind me. Speaking of which, could you get me some medi-gel? I have an appointment with Admiral Hackett in an hour, and I would really prefer not to show up looking like I just lost a fight with a clutter of cats."

Her request had the doctor smiling again. "Sure. Come see me in the med-bay any time." She paused for a moment, and added, "I just want you to know, no matter what happens next, you can always count on me as your ally. You are a good person, Shepard. Never doubt that."

Biting the inside of her cheek briefly, Shepard asked with a rueful smile on her lips, "was it that obvious? Some aspects of this operation can be quite… ruthless. I know they are terrible people, but I can't help but feel bad."

"Well, _I_ don't." Adams squared his shoulders.

His reply reminded Shepard who she was talking to: Adams was an Alliance man through and through. His family had been serving the Alliance faithfully for generations. Even now, both of his parents were part of the Fifth Fleet under Admiral Hackett's command. Taking his personal history into consideration, the fact that he had agreed to provide full support to her mad scheme highlighted the enormity of his trust in her.

It was humbling.

"To borrow your words, Commander, 'it is necessary.' If there is nothing else, I need to get started. I would prefer to have it ready sooner rather than later." Dr. Chakwas gave them a polite nod and left without making further comments.

"Same for me. Hardware is not a problem, but the VI integration might get tricky. I'll start right away." Adams said and left to tackle his new assignment.

 _T minus twenty-four days._

Now that she had secured their support, Operation Coventry was officially a go. Opening up the latest message from Kasumi, Shepard shook her head in exasperation at the master thief's dubious fashion choice. Intellectually, Shepard understood why Kasumi picked this specific outfit for the mission. But damnnit. Couldn't she had picked something a little less flashy? Well, it was too late to make changes now.

"Shepard?"

Hearing her name called by Liara's voice, Shepard automatically sat up straight while scanning the maiden's face for any trace of lingering anger. "Yes?"

Liara gave her a look. "You can relax, Shepard. I'm not going to bite your head off."

"Sorry." Shepard studied Liara's body language for a long moment before pointing out the obvious. "You're still upset with me."

Liara crossed her arms. "What do you think? If we trade places, wouldn't you feel the same?"

"Yeah."

"Here." Liara pressed a tube of medi-gel into Shepard's hands. "Just so we are clear, you are still not forgiven yet. But I do feel bad seeing those handprints on your face, no matter how deserving they are."

Shepard was unable to hold back a happy grin at the gesture. It looked like she was out of the doghouse for now. "Thanks."

"Uh huh. Try to pull the same stunt again and I will not be as forgiving next time." Liara said with a stern warning in her melodic voice.

"Promise." Shepard made a gesture to cross her heart. She opened the tube and applied a thin layer of medi-gel over her sore cheeks. Hopefully her advanced healing would make the embarrassing marks go away before she had to meet with Admiral Hackett.

"Shepard..." Liara called her again. This time, her tone was tentative. Fidgeting under Shepard's curious gaze, Liara took a deep breath, and finally said, "I've made up my mind."

"O…k?" Shepard scratched her head. "About what?"

"About us."

Her reply instantly kicked the Commander into full alert mode. "What about us? You're not breaking up with me, are you?"

"Of course not." Liara clicked her tongue at Shepard's terrified expression. "What made you think I want that? I'm actually thinking the exact opposite. I think we should make our bonding official the next time we visit the Citadel. As my legally registered bondmate, you can have complete access to all the resources I have. T'Soni is a very ancient and prestigious name, and Benezia is… was an influential matriarch. A large portion of that influence is backed with a significant amount of wealth. All of which is now mine since I'm her only heir."

"Oh, Liara… Sweetie, I am so sorry, but I can't. This is not right." Shepard shook her head in dismay. This had to be one of the most pathetic reasons to get married. She understood that extraordinary circumstances had forced her to employ extreme measures, but deep down, she was a romantic. Why else would she pop the question in the spur of the moment? Listening to Liara rationalize in such a detached manner that they had to get legally bonded right away for expediency's sake was just down right depressing.

Not to be diswayed, Liara took the Commander's hand and held it tenderly against her chest. "You misunderstand my intention, Shepard. I'm not doing this for the war, I'm not even doing this for you - I'm doing this for myself. I am uncertain whether I can go through with that insane plan of yours if we don't bond wrists first. Let's not fool ourselves. This operation is beyond risky. If anything goes wrong… even if everything goes right, It will still hurt too much. Let me be selfish. You must think me silly for insisting on this, but my heart needs the extra assurance."

Shepard stared dumbly at the maiden. "... I don't know what to say."

"Say yes."

There was no way she could refuse. "Yes." The radiant smile on the maiden's face convinced Shepard she had made the right choice. "Come here," she said, tugging Liara closer to sit on her lap. She reached into her side pocket and took out a pair of intricately woven bracelets. "Red and purple, the colour of our blood. And our names in white on the inside of the bracelet. I found this asari specialty shop called Goddess Essentials in the lower ward and had them custom made. I asked the clerk for the toughest materials. You know, just in case we run into more acid spitting rachni or mercs with flamethrowers. "

"That is… very practical of you." Liara giggled while admiring the accessories with reverence. "They are perfect."

"Well, I'm glad you approve." Shepard leaned in and buried her face in the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply before letting out a content sigh. "Everything will work out. I promise."

"I want to believe you, Shepard." Liara spoke so quietly, her voice was barely above a whisper. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

x-x-x

The private meeting with Admiral Hackett took place inside his office abroad the Arcturus station. While the Commander was giving him a long overdue personal debrief, the Normandy was dry docked to undergo extensive maintenance.

"Commander Shepard, it's good to see you." Hackett returned the salute before extending his arm out.

"Admiral." Shepard shook his hand. "It's good to see you, too."

"Before we start, I would like to thank you for all your hard work. In the short time you have had the Normandy under your command, you've accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments under your belt. You are a credit to your uniform, Commander."

"Thank you, sir. Just doing my job."

Hackett smiled warmly at her. "I wish every Alliance soldier has the same definition of 'doing their job.' You stopped batarian terrorists from dropping an asteroid on Terra Nova, and you stopped Saren and his geth from taking over the Citadel. Hell, it was your call to save the Destiny Ascension that earned humanity a seat on the Council."

"I didn't do this alone. I couldn't have done it without my crew. And I'm just glad I'm not being tried for mutiny for stealing the Normandy, sir." Shepard replied, trying hard not to blush too much.

"Nobody in their right mind can fault you for your decision, Commander. Yes, human lives were sacrificed to save the Council, but the political favour humanity had earned from this alone is immeasurable." Hackett paused, and added gravely, "especially in light of the coming Reaper invasion."

"Sir?"

Hackett waved her off. "No need to give me the song and dance, Commander. I'm a military man, not a damn politician. I studied every report you submitted; the evidence is overwhelming. Burying my head in the sand won't change reality. You have permission to speak freely, Commander. What's your take on this?"

Shepard activated her Omni-tool and pulled up a miniature galaxy map. "The batarians hegemony had secreted away the Leviathan of Dis to study for decades. That much is an open secret. I highly suspect the alien dreadnought is actually a Reaper corpse. What else could it be? I cannot stress enough just how dangerous Reaper tech is. Even a dead Reaper can indoctrinate. I doubt they knew to properly shield everything when their scientists were studying it. If I were the Reapers, I would use batarian space as a stage ground to kick off a galactic invasion. And you know what that means - we're next."

She circled the batarian space on the map and highlighted the mass relay paths. "The Reapers will hit every species' homeworlds because their foot soldiers are manufactured from our own dead. They will hit every major military, industrial, and communication centre, thereby cutting us off from our supply lines. While we are being pounded by the Reapers, we will be stabbed in the back by indoctrinated traitors in our midst. That's how they destroyed the Protheans, and that's the same strategy they will use against us. But unlike the Protheans, this cycle does not have a unified empire. When the Reapers come, it's every race for themselves. And it looks to me right now," Shepard turned off her Omni-tool and crossed her arms, "you and Captain Anderson are the only people in power who would entertain the thought that this is actually happening."

Hackett palmed his eyes tiredly. "The enormity of what you are saying is… Honestly, I am at a loss. How do we even begin to prepare for an invasion of this scale? Conventional warfare just won't cut it. While we have to worry about logistics and troop morale, the Reapers will have us outgunned and outnumbered at every turn. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them."

This was the perfect opportunity if she ever saw one. Months of scheming and plotting had finally led her to this moment when she could truly make a difference. "I have several, actually. I've been thinking about this since Eden Prime..."

x-x-x

Shepard decided to break the news to Ashley and Kaidan personally. She specifically timed it so the two were in the middle of taking a sip from their bottles when she announced, "Liara and I are getting married."

The subsequent spit take was to be expected. The death glare from the unfortunate bartender who got sprayed on was a surprise, however.

"We're not planning for a ceremony. We're just gonna fill out the paperwork in the embassy when we visit the Citadel next time." She elaborated casually, resting her elbow against the bar while studying her own drink. The spiced rum they served on the Arcturus station was always excellent.

"Holy hell!" Ashley wiped the spilled beer from her chin with the back of her hand in a very undignified manner. The Gunnery Chief all but freaked out in a series of high pitched squeals. "Are you serious?! Oh my God! Congratulations skipper!"

"You two make a lovely couple. Congratulations, Commander. I'm very happy for you." Kaidan's response was a lot more restrained compared to Ashley's exuberant antics.

Shepard grinned at her squadmates. "Thanks, guys. Ash, you can calm down now."

"I can't believe this! Why the hurry, if you don't mind me asking… Wait, don't tell me…" Ashley gaped at Shepard. "You didn't knock her up, did you?"

Shepard palmed her face. "No, I did not. That's not how it works."

"Well, excuse me for not knowing." Ashley paused, took another sip, and grinned, "so enlighten me. How does it work?"

"What do you mean, 'how does it work'?" Shepard frowned in confusion. "Are you asking me about asari reproduction or are you asking me about sex with an asari?"

"Yes."

Shepard rolled her eyes. "When two people love each other very much…"

Kaidan couldn't help himself. He started laughing his ass off. "Aww, come on! You are not doing this right. Watch." He stood up from his stool and raised his bottle. "Atten-tion! Let's have a round of drinks for everyone! Commander Shepard is getting hitched! Give us a hooya!"

The entire bar erupted in loud cheers. The vast majority of the patrons in the bar were Alliance soldiers on shore leave. They had no problem with free drinks. "HOOYA!"

"Who's like us!" Ashley hollered above the noises, raising her bottle high.

"Damn few! And they're all dead!" Shepard shouted back before chugging her rum and slamming the empty glass down on the bar, earning herself more cheers from the crowd.

"Now that's more like it!" Kaidan sat back down and finished his drink.

"Well shit, I'll need to call my mom before this hits the six o'clock news."

Ashley shook her head at the Commander's predicament. "Well shit, indeed. I can't believe you haven't told your own mother yet."

Shepard shrugged. "We have our issues. We've been working through them. Funny thing is, we're too much alike. That's our problem."

"Yeah, I remember her. Almost scared the bejesus out of me when I saw her standing next to you in the CIC. I thought my biotic induced migraine was making me see double." Kaidan said.

"You'll see her again soon enough. The Kilimanjaro is scheduled to dry dock for major repairs. The dreadnought took some fire during the attack. And speaking of which," Shepard straightened up and looked at her squadmates in the eyes. "There is a reason why the Normandy is called back to Arcturus other than going through maintenance. This is coming from up high - there will be a lot of shuffling. So be ready. There are consequences for us joining in the Council. We now have Council sanction to build up our military strength and contribute toward defending the Citadel space on top of our regular patrol in the Verge. You two have proven to be capable leaders; I suspect the brass will need you elsewhere."

"What?! But..." Ashley began to protest. Shepard silenced her with a look.

"But nothing." Shepard said sternly. "Even if they don't transfer you, you still won't be staying on the Normandy anyway. I've already submitted my recommendations; one is for your commission, the other is to send you to Rio. You'll get the paperwork within the week."

What she said had Ashley choking on air. "You did not!"

"I'm afraid I did." Shepard tilted her head. "You can always decline. I don't think you will."

"Permission to hug you, ma'am." Ashley asked with teary eyes and wobbly voice.

Shepard smiled and said, "permission granted," before getting tackled in a bear hug.

"You've more than earned it, Chief." Kaidan said, grinning happily at the news.

"Alright, that's enough hugging." Shepard escaped from the tight hug a bit awkwardly and offered, "have more drinks! It's on me."

Just as Shepard had anticipated, the final paperwork came through in two days. The majority of the Normandy's crew were reassigned elsewhere while a notable few were promoted.

Gunnery Chief Williams, by showing of valor and bravery during the battle of the Citadel, was offered an officer's commission. She was now 2nd Lieutenant Williams and scheduled to leave for Earth on the next transport to visit her family before shipping out to Rio to join the prestigious ICT program.

Staff Lieutenant Alenko, by showing exemplary leadership and biotic proficiency, was tapped by Admiral Hackett to join in an experimental special forces for talented biotics. This was an incredible opportunity for him to earn his own command and make a name for himself. It was no surprise he took the offer. He would be staying on the station for a while as members of the new biotic company assembled for their first test run.

Commander Shepard herself, on the other hand, did not receive a promotion even though many civilians would argue she should have. The root of the problem was that she was technically not part of the Alliance chain of command. When the Council appointed her to work as a Spectre, her military rank was effectively frozen forever. Her official title should have been "Spectre" from that moment on, though most people still referred her as "Commander" out of respect of her military service.

If they had defeated the Reapers the last time around, Shepard would have been promoted afterward since she was officially reinstated as a wartime measure. The highest rank she could achieve without being saddled with a desk would be a full bird Captain since it was highly unlikely the Alliance would willingly promote their best field agent out of the field to hold a desk job. To appease the uninformed general populace, and to maintain the appearance of fairness, the Alliance brass decided to crush her with medals in a highly televised event. It was tedious, uncomfortable, and overly politicised, but had to be done.

Shepard was never more glad that the Alliance had taken a practical approach and decided not to adopt the archaic form of traditional military mess dress uniform. It might look interesting in old holos, but the officer's dress blues was restrictive enough as it was. She could only imagine how clunky it would be to be weighted down by all that ribbons, tassels, chains, and medals while being smothered in layers upon layers of scratchy clothes. It would be more unbearable than trudging through a level one hazard world in a hardsuit.

Nowadays all the awards and decorations were in digital form attached to their Alliance personnel record, so there really was no reason to display all of them on their uniform. It wasn't like she was complaining about getting recognition for her hard work. She simply felt awkward to be put on display while fully decked out like some kind of peacock. In this regard, she wholeheartedly agreed with Mordin that she would much prefer to do her job and go home. No chest pounding required.

Still, the Commander did her duty. She even expertly tolerated an army of camera drones like an overly photogenic Alliance recruitment model without complaints for the entire day (all the while resisting the urge to roll behind cover as if they were turret flyers). One saving grace was that people more important than her did all the talking. This was done by design, not a fortuitous coincidence. Most likely, the Council had made a strong suggestion to the Alliance joint military command to prevent Shepard from saying anything that would contradict the current narrative that it was the geth that was behind the Citadel attack. They didn't need to have her sling around the "R" word in public and cause a panic.

Which was perfectly fine by her. Shepard had no intention to stir up trouble.

Not yet, anyway.

x-x-x

"She is beautiful, isn't she?" Leaning forward against the railings on the observation platform, Shepard said to her mother without peeling her eyes away from the dry docked Normandy. She had spent the last hour just standing here, admiring every little detail of her beloved ship as technicians worked the hull to give it a final round of spit and shine.

"She is." Captain Shepard agreed, silently standing next to her daughter and watching the ship for a few minutes before she finally spoke again. "I heard you are getting married to Dr. Liara T'Soni. Congratulations, Jane. She looks like a good kid."

Shepard turned to give her mother a lopsided smile. "Thanks, mom. Liara will be very happy to hear that."

"By the way, where is she? I thought you asked me to come because you want to introduce me to your bride-to-be?"

Shepard shook her head. "She's preoccupied. Our squad recovered a Prothean VI on Ilos when we were chasing down Saren. Turns out, the VI is a lot more damaged than we initially thought. Most of its non-essential data is corrupt. Even the part that's intact needs to be scrubbed and reconstructed extensively before we can make use of it. Prothean programing language is incredibly complex. Liara has been working with my best engineer, Tali'Zora nar Rayya, to try to recover as much data as they can. The more functional it is, the more likely the Council will believe this is a real Prothean VI."

"I see." Hannah crossed her arms. "Then why did you want me here?"

Shepard tilted her head and deliberately raised an eyebrow. "Did it occur to you I just wanted to see you in person while we are both on the same station?"

"Sure it did. I just didn't want to get my hopes up."

"Mom…"

Hannah put her hands up. "Alright, alright. I'm not trying to pick a fight."

Shepard looked away. She had gotten so used to being angry at her mother since she was young, it was difficult to get out of the negative mindset. The animosity between them was simple, yet at the same time complicated; she blamed her mother for abandoning her family. She was nine when her father was crippled. When John and grandmother Mary took her to Mindoir, Hannah stayed with the Alliance. If her mother had not finally broke her silence and properly explained herself only a few months ago, they never would have reconciled.

Hannah stayed because she knew the accident that had incapacitated John and killed so many people was no accident at all. She stayed in the Alliance to clear John's name, and she shipped her family away to a backwater colony in the Verge to hide her daughter from prying eyes. Young Jane's biotic ability was developing so rapidly, it was apparent the "accident" happened precisely because someone wanted to create more human biotics, collateral damage be damned.

The trail of breadcrumbs eventually led her to the tangled web of Cerberus.

If one could use one word to describe Captain Hannah Shepard, it would be "patient." Trained as an infiltrator, Hannah knew the importance of being discreet, of biding her time for her shot to line up perfectly before pulling the trigger. Twenty years she spent collecting clues and following leads without raising any red flags. She was meticulous and thorough - something the bullheaded junior could have learnt much from. The moment Shepard started her rather hamfisted attempts at looking into Cerberus plants within the Alliance, Hannah was immediately made aware of her daughter's activity. She had to drop everything and schedule the first transport to the Citadel to sit her daughter down for a heart-to-heart before the young woman could get herself killed by poking at the wrong bush.

After their talk, Shepard humbly ceased her bumbling attempt at counter-espionage and relegated this task to the trained professional, i.e. her mother. Commander Shepard might be able to out-krogan a krogan on the battlefield, but she was at best an amature in the spy business.

"I want to thank you for the list. It's been put to good use." Shepard said and handed a data pad to her mother.

Hannah quickly read through it before sucking in a startled breath. "I hope you know what you're doing." She said, frowning unhappily at her daughter and hastily shoving the data pad back as if it might bite her hand.

"It'll work out." Shepard shrugged, before adding, "I think."

Hannah shot her an incredulous glare. "You think?"

"I hope. I do have a plan, believe it or not. I pitched the idea to Admiral Hackett. Took me a while to get him onboard. He was not happy about the risk, either… Anyways. I just wanted to see you in person before I ship out. I'm going to be away for a while." Chewing on her bottom lip for a second, Shepard considered her words carefully before she said, "the lion was the first task. The sixth task was to kill the swarm of man-eating birds that had destroyed many towns. They lived in a swamp where no man can set foot on."

The look of confusion on her mother's face was not entirely unexpected. "You could've just told me it's classified, kiddo. Your riddle sucks, just so you know. What made you think I can recite Greek mythology off the top of my head?"

"I do want to tell you, but I can't. And it's technically not classified. There's no file to seal."

Hannah gave her daughter a sharp look. "You are playing a dangerous game, Jane. I'm shocked Hackett of all people would allow this."

"Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures."

"Do me a favour; be careful." Hanna studied her daughter's face, her gaze lingered on the tiny white scar that split her left brow. "If not for me, then do so for your future wife - bondmate, whichever term you prefer."

"Either one is fine." Shepard said, her lips quirked upward in good humour.

"Speaking of which, what's your plan for the wedding?"

Shepard scratched the back of her head ruefully at the question. "We're going to fill out paperwork at the Presidium embassy tomorrow. Nothing elaborate."

"Oh, come on! That's it? I understand you are not a girly girl, but is that fair to your asari bride?"

"It's her idea, mom. She wants to make it official as soon as possible." Shepard said a bit defensively.

Hannah grew suspicious. "You didn't knock her up, did you? Is that why you're in such a hurry? Wait. Asaris are monogender. _You_ are not pregnant, are you?"

Shepard threw her hands up in exasperation. "Mom! No. Why do people keep saying that? That's not how it works." Besides, her corpse had been so mutilated after going through atmospheric re-entry sans escape pod, all the king's men couldn't put her back together. Miranda had to prioritize. It just so happened that her uterus was not high on the list. It was miracle enough that they had revived her at all. Any children of theirs had to come out of Liara because Shepard herself was about as fertile as Tuchanka's radioactive wasteland.

Hannah crossed her arms. "How am I supposed to know? Never slept with an asari before."

Groaning in embarrassment, Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose as if in pain. "Please stop."

"Just saying." Hannah smirked, paused for a second, before adding, "but really, this is between you two, so forget I asked. As long as you are happy, you have my blessing."

"... Thanks, mom. This means a lot."

Shepard senior beamed. "So tell me about my soon-to-be daughter-in-law. All I know is that she is Matriarch Benezia's daughter, and that she is a Prothean archaeologist. There's gotta be more."

x-x-x

It took them less than an hour to be officially married. It went by so quickly, it was almost unreal. All it took was the signing of a bonding paper after verifying their biometric and digital signatures in the embassy. They did not even have to worry about witnesses. As soon as words got out that the first human Spectre had requested to fill out a bonding paper with a young asari maiden in tow, Emily Wong and Khalisah al-Jilani both showed up to at the embassy in less than five minutes to crash the party.

Shepard highly doubted the public transit was normally this speedy. She had to cooly remind the two overzealous reporters to respect their privacy and turn off their camera drones. Humanity did not need to know why Commander Shepard chose to bond wrists with an asari instead of marrying a human. Whatever happened with her private life was just that, private. It was fortunate the reporters complied to her polite request; al-Jilani doing so a lot more sulkingly than Wong did. Shepard did not care to get caught on camera punching a reporter or two on her wedding day.

As if on cue, the Council summoned her to an urgent meeting at the tower right afterward, sparing her an unwanted interview. Shepard had never been happier to get a call from them before. The meeting was to take place at the conference hall adjacent to Councillor Valern's office, which so happen to have suffered the least amount of damage during the invasion. When she arrived, the entire Council was already there.

Anderson greeted her with a warm smile. "It's good to see you, Commander. You look... happy and well dressed today. I don't see you out of uniform very often."

Shepard schooled her face to wipe off the dopey grin and snapped a crisp salute. "It's good to see you too, sir."

She gave a quick glance down at the suit she was wearing. It was a well-fitted black suit with simple cut and white trim, much like the officer's uniform Cerberus had so helpfully stocked in her closet when they gave her the SR-2. The best part about this suit was that it was mercifully not decorated with the Cerberus logo. Shepard had stubbornly refused to wear anything stamped with the much hated yellow diamond last time, so her choice of clothing was cut down to one grungy spacer jumpsuit that looked as if it was made with oily burlap and the science uniform - she wore the science uniform for six months straight.

Holding up her left wrist, the newly wed proudly showed off the bond bracelet to her mentor. "Tied the knot with Liara at the embassy just now.".

"Just now?! Congratulations." Anderson recovered quickly from the shock and held out a hand to give her a firm shake, grinning happily on her behalf.

"Thank you, sir."

Valern chimed in to give his two-cent in typical salarian fashion. "Indeed, this is good news. The T'Soni bloodline has produced several prestigious matriarchs. I am amazed you've managed to secure a breeding contract, Commander."

Shepard palmed her face.

 _Salarians._

Sparatus commented drily. "I am more amazed you've found the time for courtship. One would assume your attention would have been otherwise occupied on more pressing matters."

"I multi-task well." Shepard kept her voice level, even though the acerbic tone was unmistakable.

"Obviously." Sparatus agreed, his mandibles fluttering in amusement.

"Commander Shepard," Tevos finally spoke. The asari Councillor had been staring intently at her the whole time since she walked into the conference hall. In fact, her deep piercing gaze was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable. "Congratulations on your bonding. May the Goddess bless your union."

"Thank you, ma'am." Shepard said, trying to ignore the feeling of being actively assessed while keeping her face blank. "Councillor, what's this meeting about? You said it was urgent."

Tevos pulled out her Omni-tool to show a report on screen. "Ah, yes. We read your report on Ilos, Commander, we have questions. You mentioned you've encountered a functional Prothean VI, and it gave you a file to temporarily take control of the Citadel. Could you elaborate on that?"

Shepard straightened up. "The VI's name is Vigil. It was a caretaker program created by the Prothean scientists on Ilos to monitor their stasis pods. The program is very sophisticated, though most of its non-essential data bank is corrupt. One important function that is still intact is its ability to detect indoctrinated organics. I have saved a copy of the VI since the original program was close to termination from power failure. My team has been working diligently to recover more data ever since."

The Councillors exchanged astonished glances with each other before Sparatus finally spoke up again. "Commander, if what you're saying is true, then this is an incredible find. We would need to assemble a science team to study the program."

Shepard agreed readily. "Of course. I will submit a copy of the VI to the Spectre Office. Even with proper shielding, the chance of indoctrination while handling Reaper tech could never be eliminated. If the Council wishes to study Sovereign's remains safely, I highly recommend setting the VI's detection protocol as the highest priority item before experimenting with Reaper tech. If we want to play with fire, we better have smoke detectors installed in every room, lest the house burns down. Wouldn't you agree?"

The flippant way she mentioned studying Reaper remains left no room for interpretation. Shepard wanted all the Councillors to know she knew they had secreted away bits and pieces of hyper-advanced technology to study while at the same time spreading misinformation to the public on the origin of the same tech. In other words, she was essentially telling the Council that they should not bother denying her claim that Sovereign was a Reaper to her face. Studying geth tech did not pose the same risks as studying Reaper tech. Either they could take her advice and take preventive measures against indoctrination in their secret labs, or they could keep pretending they were studying geth tech and have their best scientists compromised.

Not all of Sovereign's remains were recovered after the failed invasion. Pieces large and small were taken away either through the Council's official channels, or through illicit black market trades. No matter where they ended up, the worse case scenario was that people became indoctrinated sleeper agents by the Reaper tech they were hoarding through improper material handling. If the Council insisted on spreading misinformation regarding Sovereign's origin, Shepard wanted them to understand this was the risk they ran.

"That's a very good point. We can never be too careful." Anderson said while giving the other three Councillors a slightly smug look. It seemed he understood what she had done.

By saving Vigil, a valuable Prothean VI with the capacity to detect indoctrination, Shepard had trapped the Council into at least admitting to their highest leadership and their best researchers the true origin of the tech they were studying. This way, the masses would stay blissfully ignorant while the people in the know would be forced to stay vigilant.

 _Well, relatively more vigilant comparing to last time._ Shepard was not going to hold her breath. The temptation to bury one's head under the sands while pretending everything was fine was too damned irresistible.

"And there is also the matter with the Prothean beacon you've encountered on Virmire." Valern continued, blinking rapidly as he spoke. "The Council has decided it would be best for you to share that knowledge."

Without hesitation, Shepard agreed amiably, "I understand. I have been logging the beacon's content in my spare time by category. The process is slow going because I do not have the technical expertise to discern which information should be prioritized. It would be helpful if someone could provide me with a list of topics."

"Actually, Commander, there is an easier way to do this." Tevos spoke up. Judging from the contemplative looks she was receiving from the other Councillors, whatever she had in mind was not an unanimous decision. "We are hoping you would consent to melding with matriarchs versed in mental disciples. Sharing memories through knowledge melds should be more efficient than transcribing the information down on data pad."

Shepard knew this was coming. Frowning in an obvious show of reluctance, she asked, "does that mean the matriarchs would then share the findings equally with salarian, turian, and human representatives so we are not favouring one species over another?"

All eyes were on the asari Councillor after Shepard's question. Her strategy to divide the Council regarding this matter had worked, if the sour expression on Valern and Sparatus' faces were any indication.

"I would much prefer to avoid having strangers rummaging through my memories, Councillor Tevos. My mind is open to my bondmate, and no one else."

Tevos conceded. Shepard had no doubt she would bring the issue back up again when she worked out a different angle. "Very well. The Council shall deliberate on the best method to expedite knowledge sharing. For now, please continue transcribing data and submitting them to us. We will send you a list of priority items to focus on."

Shepard smiled. She would bet real credit that even the list would be very much contested amongst the Council races. The more embroiled they were in jockeying for a better position, the less likely the Matriarchy could get their way. Of course, the Council might put aside their differences long enough and decide that having a team of asari matriarchs sift through her head was the fastest way to milk all the precious Prothean data out of her brain, but knowing the Council, it would be a hot day on Noveria before that happened.

Anderson gave her an apologetic look. "There is one more thing, Commander; albeit, the timing is not the best. We've received troubling intel of possible geth activities in the Terminus systems outside of the Perseus Veil. Ships are disappearing, and they don't look like typical piracy. The reports are spotty at best. We are stretched thin, and the Normandy is the only stealth ship we have at the moment."

 _This is it._ Shepard's heart picked up speed and began to race at a frantic gallop. Outwardly, her face remained impassive.

Tevos' sharp eyes zeroed in on her own just as a puzzled frown kneaded between her tattooed brows.

"You want me to collect intel on the geth in the Terminus systems."

Sparatus nodded. "Yes. For all we know, they could be regrouping for another invasion. We need time to rebuild our fleet. Meanwhile, it is paramount that we keep a close watch on enemy movement. We want to know where they are massing, and how many ships they have."

"Then I better get to it right away." Shepard agreed cordially.

After saluting the Council, she walked away without a backward glance.

She could feel Tevos's eyes followed her out of the hall.

x-x-x

It was just another routine mission.

Several ships had gone missing in this system without explanation. Even though their disappearance could have been blamed on pirate activities or slaver gangs, something just didn't quite add up. Those ships had no particular value, and there had been no established gang activities in the area where they disappeared.

Joker sat slouching in his pilot seat and sulked. His hips and shoulders ached from sitting in the same position for so long. He would never admit it out loud in present company, but the damned chair was hard on his joints. Would it break the Alliance's bank to install a more ergonomic seat? He highly doubted it. And the material they made the seat with should really be outlawed for doubling as a torture device. Was it so much to ask for leather upholstery?

No, it wasn't the boring mission or the stupid chair that was pissing him off. Joker looked around the cockpit and sighed to himself. It was the new crew that put a raincloud over his head. He had no idea why the brass thought messing around with a formula that worked was a good idea.

Kaidan was gone, and Joker really couldn't blame the man. Hell, the guy was presented with a golden opportunity for his own command, no reason why he would turn it down. Still, he missed the guy. Kaidan was one of the nicest officers he had ever worked with, not that the Commander wasn't nice or anything. She could be really intimidating sometimes. The Lieutenant was personable and harmless like a teddy bear, even though he could've easily snapped someone in half with his biotics if he wanted to.

He even missed the stiff Navigator Pressly. The old guy was stern and by-the-book, but he was competent and fair. After the shuffle, they assigned a stuck-up hardass with an ugly chin beard who used to work on Rear Admiral Mikhailovich's ship as the new XO, and it all went downhill from there.

Staff Lieutenant Lentz had this pompous air about him that grated on his nerves. Joker swore Mikhailovich had pulled strings to squeeze in his lap dog on the Normandy just to make their lives difficult. No doubt he had it out on the Commander ever since she denied him an impromptu inspection. Those two were cut from the same unpleasant cloth that reeked of Terra Firma nonsense. Was it a wonder Tali went back to the Flotilla after putting up with the jerk for less than a week? Sometimes he wished Garrus and Wrex were still with them. He would pay good money to watch the self-important a-hole try to push them around for a change. Picking on a young quarian girl on her Pilgrimage was just not fair.

Joker had a feeling Lentz wouldn't be sticking around for too long though. If the rumor mill was right, the guy got into a fist fight with Engineer Adams for calling Tali a suit rat. To say that the Commander was unimpressed would be an understatement of epic proportions. Most of the time, the Commander was so easy-going, people forgot that she was this scary N7 elite who could gut a batarian slaver with her pinky finger. According to eyewitnesses, all it took was one glare from the ticked off Commander for the new XO to crap his pants from sheer terror. Joker was not surprised. Tali was family to the Commander - and nobody messes with her family.

After Tali left, Liara became the lone non-human on the ship. At least the jerk had enough brain cells to not try anything with the Commander's wife. Now that was a surefire way to get tossed out of the airlock. So instead of picking on aliens, Lentz had decided to be doubly unpleasant to the crew. Some people were simply not suited to be given power, Joker thought.

The rest of the crew seemed alright. After the reshuffle, the Normandy went from fully staffed at thirty crew members down to half strength. They weren't like the old crew, but building a new team took time. Three weeks was hardly long enough for people to really get to know each other.

"We've been scouring the Amada system for days. Still no sign of geth or pirate activities." XO Lentz said, shaking his head at the navigation scans on his workstation.

"Ships don't just disappear for no reason. Send out more probes. Keep looking." Commander Shepard ordered flatly. It was obvious to everyone that the woman was in no mood to put up with any bitching. They were assigned a job, and they were expected to carry it out without complaint. Having worked under her for a while, Joker was well aware of that particular tone. "For all we know, it could be another Reaper lurking out there. Stay alert."

"Yes, ma'am." Joker answered quickly. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Lentz pull a face when the Commander's back was turned.

Unfortunately for Lentz, the Commander apparently had eyes growing in the back of her head. "If you are bored, Lieutenant, I can order another evac drill to make your day more interesting."

Even Joker couldn't hide his grimace at that comment. Another drill would mean more limping and hobbling on his glass legs. With a new crew manning the ship, the first order the Commander gave out after they left port was to run an evac drill as per Alliance regulations. After the drill, she then proceeded to rim the crew out for slacking before ordering another drill until their performance improved to her liking. Tough love, Joker supposed. After all, they just lost three cruisers defending the Citadel. He bet the crew on those ships had wished they had had someone like Commander Shepard as their CO.

"Unknown ship spotted…" A navigator called out. Joker scanned the interface and sucked in a breath; the thing's energy signature was massive!

"All hands assume battlestation! Joker! Get us the hell out of here!" Shepard barked out an order before running back to get suited up. Joker did not hesitate.

"Why?" Lentz rolled his eyes. "God that woman is paranoid. Did she forget we are in stealth mode? Geth can't see us."

Joker ignored him. He trusted the Commander to give the right order. Plus, after Virmire, he had a healthy respect of what a Reaper could do. With a quick swipe of his hand, he gunned down on the accelerator to squeeze out as much speed as he could from the Normandy's oversized eezo core.

Not even a minute later, the Commander's instinct was proven correct. "Unknown ship is accelerating! It's set on an intersecting trajectory!"

"What? Impossible! They can see us?!" Lentz exclaimed in disbelief.

"They're powering up! Brace for evasive maneuver!" Joker shouted even as his hands became a blur on the interface, desperately trying to shake the enemy ship from their tail.

The enemy dreadnought fired. Joker barely had time to move out of the way. Alarms were going off like Christmas trees on his screen. The shot had shattered their kinetic barrier just by grazing it with the faintest lick. If the shave had been any closer, it would have ripped open the Normandy's hull like a bloody sardine can. "We've lost shield! Disengage stealth drive! Re-routing power!"

In the middle of the chaos, the Commander had come back to the bridge fully suited up in her N7 armor. "Emergency beacons launched. Begin stage 1 evac! Countdown, sixty seconds! Joker, buy our people time!"

"I'm trying!" Joker groaned in despair. What the hell was he supposed to do? In a dogfight with this much power disparity, one minute was a whole lifetime. Their best secret weapon, the IES stealth system, was proven to be completely useless. They didn't have a big enough gun to scratch a frigging dreadnought's paint job when it was fully shielded. The tiny frigate's kinetic barrier was a sad joke that failed after one hit, and its armor plating might as well be tin foil. There was no relay nearby to escape through, there was no debris field to hide in, and the Normandy couldn't keep dodging fire forever. Sooner or later, the enemy ship would run her down. When that happened…

"Vent the heat sink. Might confuse their sensors." The Commander shouted over the loud siren of Normandy's VI counting down to stage 2 evac as CIC staff scrambling to reach escape pods located in the crew deck.

"Copy that!"

It worked. The enemy ship fired into the empty space while Joker pulled the ship out at a sharp angle to continue their escape at a different trajectory.

"It'll come back again. Time's up. Stage 2 evac in 5… 4…" The Commander continued the countdown with her hand hovering over the interface.

Joker's hands shook. He reached up and activated the emergency seal built into his uniform. The layer of transparent holographic faceplate clicked into place, making everything seem blurry.

 _Damn it, that's tears. Why the fuck am I so weak?_

"3… 2… 1… Disable life support on all decks! Re-route all power back to shield!" At her order, Normandy's kinetic barrier flared back to life just as they lost artificial gravity and air support. The Commander yanked him out of his chair, unlocked the side panel leading to a small two-seated escape pod, tossed him in like a rag doll, and…

The enemy ship fired again and tore the Normandy in half.

"No! It's not fair! You can't do this!" Joker screamed and beat against the sealed airlock. He could hear the bones in his hands crack, but he hardly noticed the pain. Out the porthole window, he saw the wreckage of his beloved ship on fire.

He was alone in the escape pod.

Joker watched helplessly as the enemy dreadnought fire on the tattered remain of the Normandy again. After the second shot, there was nothing left.

Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau wept like a child.

x-x-x

A/N: I'm not going to get into a fight over fictitious military ranks, especially when the in-game lore is, at best, inconsistent (read: all over the place) throughout the trilogy. I blame this on laziness because 1) they reused the same body mesh; 2) character interactions were off between people of different ranks; 3) the military would never hand out promotions like candies. One does not simply get promoted from 0-3 to 0-6 (or for an NCO to be promoted to 0-4) in three years. Typically there are laws in place to dictate how long an officer must stay in a given rank before the person can be promoted. Since BioWare is a Canadian company (and I'm a Canadian writer), I'm going to borrow from Canadian Armed Forces ranks for the Mass Effect universe and call it good. I'm going to put my foot down and insist that Commander Shepard's official rank to be Commander, rather than Lieutenant Commander because "Commander" literally means "Captain of a frigate." In real life, Commander is also the highest rank for astronauts in a given project.

0-9 - Fleet Admiral (4 gold bars with red stripe) - Admiral Hackett

0-8 - Admiral (4 gold bars) - Admiral Anderson after the Reapers invaded Earth (see his hat)

0-7 - Rear Admiral (3 gold bars with 1 red stripe) - Admiral Anderson in the beginning of ME3

0-6 - Captain (3 gold bars) - Captain Anderson in ME1

0-5 - Commander / Capitaine de frégate (3 black bars) - CDR Shepard

0-4 - Lieutenant Commander / Major (2 black bars) - LC Williams, LC Vegas, Major Alenko

0-3 - Staff Lieutenant (1 black bar) - LT Alenko

0-2 - 1st Lieutenant (2 white braids)

0-1 - 2nd Lieutenant (1 white braid)

And please don't ask me if Shepard is dead or alive. Just enjoy the story for what it is. If anyone is losing sleep over this and must know the answer, send me a PM.


	17. II-02: MIA

Book II - Chapter 2: MIA

"Commander Shepard is _not_ dead."

Jack rolled her eyes at the feminine voice making the same ridiculous assertion over the public news channel on board the station. Obviously, this asari chick was stuck in the denial stage of grief. Tough though. She had heard this blue tail was the Alliance big shot's wife of less than a month. Young love. No wonder the chick was in denial. Soft people like her had no idea how hard real life was like. People die. Simple as that.

"... Incredible footage captured by a nearby survey probe had revealed a dreadnought of unknown origin. A comparison of the silhouette of the ship has yielded no viable match." Jack looked up at the screen and muttered a curse. _Shit. This again._ The public news channel replayed the grainy recording of a gigantic dreadnought firing upon a tiny frigate. _Who the hell could survive that?_

It had been a week since the Normandy was shot down inside the Terminus systems while hunting for geth. During the entire week, it was like nothing else happened at all in the whole fucking galaxy. For two days, it was nothing but the same stupid clip of the same stupid ship getting shredded by the same stupid dreadnought, like anyone on Omega cared about that. After that, it was interview after interview of the surviving Normandy crew members who had managed to reach escape pods before the ship got blown to bits.

Jack was sick of it all. Omega was not a complete shit hole comparing to the other stations she had been on, but there were too many people. It got loud inside her head. Hearing the same news on loop over the public announcement did nothing to improve her mood.

She needed a fucking drink.

The elcor bouncer outside the club gave her one look and stepped out of her way. Smart. Afterlife was a decent enough watering hole. Music was a tad too loud, but it was just fine by her. It helped numb the crawling, itching, fluttering buzz in her skull. Plus, all the asari dancers working the poles served as the perfect distraction to draw unwanted attention away from herself. Jack was pleased with the setting. She wanted to be left the hell alone.

Jack wove through the throngs of clubbers thrashing and twisting on the dance floor to the _thump thump_ of the music; she bet most of them were high on something. Nobody sober could dance like those morons. She scanned the dark corners of the room for a quiet place and found a door leading down to the lower level.

Having been stuck on the station for a month, Jack had rarely visited this particular club where the Queen of Omega held court. Normally Jack had no problem picking a fight, but today she kinda just wanted to empty her head and chill. Afterlife was the perfect place for that because nobody was dumb enough to make trouble inside the Queen's own castle.

Jack headed downstairs. She had never been to this level before. The music was just as loud, but there was notably fewer people around. This suited her just fine.

She made eye contact with the batarian bartender and gestured for a shot of hard liquor. The guy wordlessly poured her a glass of something blue and left her alone.

A gloved hand grabbed her wrist before she could reach her glass.

"Let. Go." Jack growled. A visible layer of biotics flared to life, shrouding her body with pent up energy. She could see a faint haze of red beginning to crowd over the edge of her vision. It would be a bad idea to flip her shit inside the Queen's domain, but she would make the fucker who had dared to touch her a smear on the ground if he didn't remove his hand in two seconds.

"It's poisoned."

Jack's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She looked up at the owner of the offending hand still holding onto her wrist and found a feminine figure covered head to toe in a gunmetal grey hardsuit that resembled a great deal like a set of antique plate armor forged in the Middle Age. As if this getup wasn't flashy enough by its design, the suit featured a blood red dragon painted across the left side of the shoulder and chest plate.

 _Fucking ridiculous! Is that a sword on her back? Is this clown for fucking real?!_

"Who the hell are you?"

The stranger shrugged. "Nobody important."

Jack pulled her lips back in a snarl. "Let go or lose that hand."

The stranger wisely loosen her grip, but she managed to reach for Jack's glass before she could stop her. With a quick flip of her wrist, the armored drink-snatcher summoned her biotics and pulled the batarian bartender towards her.

"What the hell you playing at?! Aria will skin you alive for harming her people in her own house!" The bartender shouted as he struggled to free himself from the stranger's grasp.

The crowd fell into a hushed silence. The dancers had stopped dancing, even though the music continued on with the _thump thump_ ceaselessly.

Everyone was watching.

 _Shit._

The stranger lifted the glass of blue liquor. "Drink your own poison, you varren shit." She spoke in a clipping tone, and forced the drink down the batarian's throat.

Jack watched with her mouth hanging open. The batarian gagged on the drink, and started to vomit blood. The stranger released the convulsing batarian and let him fall to the floor in a trembling heap. He became completely still in just a few heartbeats.

 _Shiiit!_

The dancers resumed dancing. The crowd went back to their previous activities. Omega's own brand of justice was served. There was nothing more to see.

"Fuck. Fair is fair. I owe you one. What do you want from me?" Jack asked sullenly.

The stranger shook her head. "You came here for a drink. Let's get you that drink first. We can talk business afterward. Agreed?"

x-x-x

The woman had a talking tin dog as a pet.

Jack followed the stranger out of Afterlife. They slowly picked their way through the Gozu district and arrived at a small apartment next door to a salarian-run medical clinic.

"Welcome back, Warden." The tin dog greeted in an overly polite male voice in typical VI fashion.

"You have a pet mech? What are you, like, ten or something?" Jack wrinkled her nose in disgust. "And what did it call you? Warden? Seriously? I ain't calling you that. The fuck is your name again?"

The armored stranger shrugged nonchalantly. "You can call me whatever you want."

Jack looked around the sparsely furnished room and crossed her arms. "Alright, I'll play. What do other people call you, besides 'Warden'?"

The stranger tilted her head. She looked to be deep in thought; it was impossible to tell when her head was completely covered under the metal bucket. "Good questions. I haven't decided yet. How about 'Grey'? Colour of my hardsuit. Yeah, it'll work. You can call me Grey." She pointed at the FENRIS mech and said, "this is Vigil."

Jack gave the stranger, Grey, an incredulous look. "You named your pet mech but you didn't have one for yourself? Fine. Whatever. Grey it is. I'm Jack. You said you wanted to talk business. Now talk."

Grey casually leaned back against the wall. "I'm hiring freelancers for a few jobs. Since it's my intel, my targets, everything we find on the jobs is mine. I'm only paying you a set retention fee. I'm not swimming in credit, but I can guarantee you decent fights. Food and board are covered. So are transportation and hardware. One other requirement is that you must follow orders on the field. If you ever want to walk, let me know. I won't stop you."

Jack scowled at the armored freak with an obviously made up name. "You're paying me peanuts and you're still expecting me to agree to this shit? You think I'm stupid."

"No, I don't think you're stupid, and I'm not stiffing you because I could. I just think you're bored. I need the resources, and you need the excitement. Take my offer, and we both get what we want."

 _The woman has got a point._ Jack thought to herself, amazed and a little alarmed that she was actually starting to consider this one-sided offer. "What's the catch? There's always a catch."

"The jobs I mentioned are all hard targets. If you're not tough enough, you're gonna die. That's the catch."

"That's not a catch." Jack scoffed, grinning at her new employer with a bloodthirsty glint in her eyes. "That's a bonus. They say challenge is its own reward, right?"

"Right." Grey agreed.

"So when do we start?"

"I'm still waiting on more intel for some of the bigger jobs I have planned. Right now I'm kinda stuck in the 'hurry up and wait' stage. But I do have a list of smaller jobs. Warm-ups, if you are interested. If not, my people can handle them without me."

"You have people?" Jack asked, curious as to what kind of losers associated themselves with this weirdo.

"Kasumi, come out and say hi." Grey said to an empty corner of the room.

At her order, a slender woman clad in a hooded black bodysuit deactivated her cloaking device, and waved chipperly at her. "Hey there. It's nice to see you."

Jack jumped. "You were here the whole time?"

"Yup." Kasumi added helpfully, "I can be very quiet. I'm a thief, not to be confused with a stalker."

Grey snorted.

Kasumi bristled. "Hey! That was one time! And it was an accident."

"Right."

Jack grumbled, "figures, you're both freaks."

"Look who's talking." Grey shook her head. "So what do you say? Are you in?" She stuck out her hand.

After a brief moment of consideration, Jack shook it. "Yeah, I'm in. Now find me something interesting to kill. I'm bored."

x-x-x

Jack regretted her poor choice of words. She had asked for something interesting to kill, and boy had the new Boss Lady delivered.

The three of them hitched a ride off-world on a salvage vessel and landed on a backwater planet out in the Minos Wasteland. The shuttle dropped them off near the entrance of a run down mine before taking off without a fuss.

"How did you get the ride?" Jack asked, a little suspicious to the almost military style operation they were running.

Kasumi answered for Grey. "She's friends with their boss."

"Alright. What's the target?"

Kasumi looked at Grey.

"Dead things." The armored freak said.

Jack grinned and followed Grey into the mine. The smile was instantly wiped off her face when she saw her opponent. She instinctively lashed out with a surge of biotic shockwave as a mutilated zombie sprinted towards her when they set foot inside the mine. Her biotics ripped into the monster and shredded it to several meaty chunks of half-rotten body parts. "What the fuck is that thing?!" Jack screamed at Grey, pushing her back a step with a furious shove.

"Calm your tits, Jack. Like I said, dead things." Grey replied mildly, seemingly not the least surprised or upset at all.

"You knew about it all along! You set me up!" Jack accused.

Grey shook her head. "No, I didn't. Scans showed alien tech. I was hoping to find Prothean artifacts down this mine. Looks like we've found something completely different. Better make sure. Move out."

Jack refused to obey this ridiculous order. "What? No! This shit ain't natural."

Grey straightened up, holstered her pistol, and crossed her arms. Even with her full helmet on, Jack could tell the woman was pissed. "I gave you an order. You've promised to obey before we started. You don't want to follow through, fine. Stand outside and sit on your thumbs. We can do this without you. Once we're done here, I'll drop you back on Omega. Amateur. Should've gone with the professionals."

The woman's derisive comment made her see red. "You take that back! I ain't no amateur! Just you watch. I can handle this, bitch!"

"Sure. You say that now, but you'll be running scared when the action starts. Scared people make stupid mistakes, Jack. Go wait outside if you don't want to follow orders."

Jack threw up her hands. "Fine! God, you're a bitch. Alright, I'll do whatever you say. I give you my word. Happy now?"

"Ok then." Grey drew her pistol. "Husks are weak against biotics. Kasumi, stay back. I'll take point. Jack, watch my flank."

"Copy that." Kasumi answered.

Jack just growled and glared at nothing in particular.

They carefully advanced into the mine. The entire place was filled to the brim with those disgusting, fast zombies. They smelled bad and they made wet gurgling sounds that made her skin crawl. Oh, and the red ones blew up. The place was like the set of a low budget horror flick. There were ropes of entrails and chunks of rancid meat everywhere.

Those glowing dead eyes. Fuck. They were like demon spawn.

And the Boss Lady was one tough biotic bitch. Jack was not easily impressed, but this woman was something else. No wonder she got to call the shots. Half-way down the mine, Grey holstered her pistol and drew the sword from her back. Jack thought the prop was only for show, to complete the medieval armor getup to make her seem more badass. But no. Boss Lady channeled biotics through the blade and cut down those husks like they were made of marshmallow. It was difficult to suppress the rising sense of grudging admiration when the woman was such an artist with violence.

This woman was like another her. A tough biotic bitch and a freak.

… And she had called her an amateur.

Jack suddenly felt the very burning need to prove the other woman wrong.

As they went in further, the size of the horde coming at them steadily grew larger. Whatever cursed artifact that turned people into the walking dead had to be located at the very bowel of this godforsaken place. Deep in the mine, the winding tunnel widened into a large chamber where a strange alien structure stood. A mesmerizing sphere of blue light sat at the top of the structure, like a glowing ball being cradled in gentle fingers…

And the entire place was infested with husks. They shrieked and moaned while running up the ramp to tear at them with their dead hands. Jack alternated between blasting them with shotgun and flinging them around with her biotics, whichever was available first.

"Cover fire! I'll clear a path!" Grey barked out an order.

Jack crouched behind a short stone wall and yanked the few husks at Grey's flank off their feet.

Boss Lady's body became a streak of blue. Grey charged down the ramp, bypassing the crowd of husks, and ended up right inside the chamber where the artifact resided. "I'm blowing this up!" She shouted.

Jack didn't know what the woman was doing - she guessed Grey had found a few mining caps - and then the whole place just went KABOOM!

Her ears were ringing. She didn't even notice she was knocked flat on her ass by the explosion, until Boss Lady hauled her up by her elbow.

"On the double!"

Jack ran for her life. Her lungs hurt, her entire body felt numb, and her heart was hammering in her chest like it was gonna burst.

She couldn't remember the last time she felt this alive.

They cleared out of the mine with seconds on the clock before the whole thing caved in.

Jack felt a pat on her back.

"Well done, Jack."

Jack wasn't sure whether the euphoria was from the usual after-battle adrenaline rush, or if it was from the simple gesture of acknowledgement. But right now, she didn't care to find out. "Told you I could handle it."

x-x-x

Grey must have had some kind of unsightly facial disfiguration or a severe phobia that prevented her from showing her face to the public. Or maybe she had a really high bounty on her head. Combine that with the fake name and her need for credit, it could also be that she was fleeing from debtors. Really, it could be a number of reasons. Omega was good for that. People who wanted to disappear flocked to the station all the time.

After hanging around her for a solid week, Jack still had no clue what the woman looked like underneath her helmet. Hell, Jack had never seen Boss Lady take off her helmet for a bite or a drink either. She must have been saving that for when she was completely alone in her quarters.

During down time, Grey would remain fully dressed in that blood dragon armor like an unholy knight while diligently tapping away at her Omni-tool, or fiddling with her dog-mech. Rarely would Jack see her out of that hardsuit. Even when she did, she would be completely covered in an all black jumpsuit with a recon hood over her face like she wanted to melt into the shadows. It was as if she were a vampire and her skin would spontaneously combust if it touched the open air. She was like a card-carrying never-nude spacer.

Tonight was one such rare occasion. Kasumi was out, probably doing recreational thievery. Jack didn't care. So it was just the two of them at the apartment. Grey had taken off her hardsuit to do some tweaking with the onboard micro-frame. Instead of being completely absorbed with her Omni-tool, Boss Lady had turned on the audio for the public news channel while performing hardsuit maintenance. Their last raid on a geth occupied base had bagged them a lot of intel and fancy hardware, but it had also put a few dents in her armor.

"... Unconfirmed footage showing non-Alliance salvagers sifting through the Normandy's wreckage after the frigate was shot down by an unknown dreadnought. Sources suggest that the illegal salvage operation had recovered the body of the first human Spectre, Commander Shepard. The Alliance HQ had issued an official statement that the investigation for the Normandy's destruction is still on-going. Commander Shepard is, for the moment, missing-in-action until there is more evidence to suggest otherwise. Councillor Anderson also made a strongly worded statement, condemning the unsanctioned salvage as 'grave robbing'..."

Jack shook her head at the latest news announcement. What use was all that speculation? At least they were reporting something different for a change. She did not need to hear another sappy news report on the big Alliance hero's life story. "I wish they would just shut up about it already." She complained.

Grey looked up from the workbench that Jack also used as her dinner table and turned down the volume of the news channel. "Why? Not a fan of Commander Shepard?"

"Not really." Jack said with a snort. "It's not like I hate her or anything. I'm just sick of hearing her name all over the news."

Grey made a vague gesture to ask her to elaborate. So she did.

"I know she's some kind of big goddamn hero who saved the Citadel or some shit, but it has nothing to do with me. Like anyone in the Terminus system cares. Those stuck-up fancy-pants on the Citadel like to think the universe revolves around them, but the rest of us disagree. The Citadel is just another space station, well, a big ass space station. Commander Shepard is just another dead Alliance soldier. But the galaxy is a big place, and the Alliance has no power here. I don't understand what the big deal is."

Boss Lady did something Jack had not expected. She doubled over in hilarity.

"What's so funny?" Jack narrowed her eyes at the woman.

"Nothing, really. I just thought you are being very honest. It's refreshing. I'm pleased to know someone else shares my opinion. Commander Shepard is just one soldier. You stab her, she bleeds and feels pain just like any other human does. She did her job, and people called her a hero. I don't get it either."

Jack's eyes lit up. "Right? You get what I mean. And those curly haired reporters with fake boobs and fake eyelashes are all over her private life like it's the most tragic story in the world. So what if she narrowly escaped a batarian slave raid as a teenager? Tell that to the actual slaves with collars around their necks right now everywhere in the Terminus systems. Or to the ex-slaves who fought their way out from under batarian boots. I bet you they'll tell you different."

"I know. It's been how many years? I'm sure she dealt with that a long time ago. Other people had it rougher than she did. They really didn't need to dig up the sob stories." Grey agreed.

"And she really had it good. I mean, look at all the interviews with her old crewmates. She had a good-looking wife who loved her so much she wouldn't let go. She had all her men's undying loyalty and respect. For fuck's sake, those are grown ass adults crying like babies on live television. Most people would kill to get a taste of what she had."

Grey let out a slow sigh and crossed her arms. "Yeah, she really had it good."

Jack continued. "I wish they would just drop it and move on to other stuff already. What's the point of bringing it up over and over again? She's dead, obviously. Just let it go. Her friends and families sure could use some space to deal with it on their own terms without having camera drones constantly in their faces. I'm sick of it. I'm sure they feel the same way. They should just punch the reporters to get that message across."

"Punching reporters. Now that's an idea."

"But you agree, right?"

"Completely, yes."

"And those people out there digging for her corpse like some kind of sick treasure hunt are just fucked. This shit ain't right." Jack pointed at the screen of the muted news report. It was showing the same low quality footage again. "If I were Blue, I would've wrung their necks so hard, their eyes would've fallen out."

"Blue?"

"The wife." Jack explained.

"Ah." Grey nodded in understanding. "Dr. Liara T'Soni. Funny how you should mention her. I just received a job request from this woman."

Jack perked up in interest. "Oh yeah? Does she want to hire us to hunt down the graverobbers?"

Grey shook her head. "She needs bodyguards. She got intel that the salvagers are bringing Shepard's corpse to Omega to auction off to the highest bidder. Dr. T'Soni wants her bondmate back."

Jack let out a low whistle. "Damn. Sounds like this is gonna get messy. Mercs would definitely be involved, and probably Aria's people, too."

"It's more than that. The Shadow Broker and Cerberus are both very invested in getting their hands on Shepard's corpse as well. Dr. T'Soni is right to be concerned."

Jack jumped up from her seat on the couch and began pacing around the room in agitation. "Concerned? She should be fucking ballistic. Cerberus is bad news. They will fuck with Shepard's body just like how they…" Jack abruptly cut herself off. "Any way you look at it, they have no claim over Blue's wife, dead or alive."

"Agreed. And the Shadow Broker isn't any better, either. Word on the streets is that they are hunting for Shepard's corpse to sell to the Collectors."

"Serious? I thought the Collectors were just stories. Boogeymen of the Terminus systems." Jack sat back down on the couch, frowning suspiciously at the other woman while half expecting to be made fun of for saying that.

"They are not stories. Ask around. I heard Aria personally killed a bunch of them, along with the group of Blue Suns slavers trying to unload their _merchandise_ on them. That was a while ago."

"Shit." Jack chewed on her lips. "I suppose Commander Shepard really is a big fucking deal then, if all them big bads want her corpse so much."

Grey shook her head at her. Jack could just imagine the woman rolling her eyes behind the recon hood she insisted on wearing. A sudden urge gripped her. Before she could get a hold of herself, Jack blurted out, "so what's with the mask and the full-body suit? You a germaphobe like a quarian or something?"

The woman chuckled in clear amusement. "No."

"Then why?"

Grey rubbed her chin. "Maybe I'm just ugly." She suggested in a teasing tone.

"Ugh. Whatever. Like I care." Jack sulked.

"What about you?" The infuriating woman asked, making a sweeping gesture at Jack's direction. "What's with the ink?"

Jack gave a quick glance down at the overlapping tattoos spanning across every inch of available skin on her upper body. "Some are for prisons I've been in, some are for kills, you know, good ones. Some are for things I've lost. The others, because why the fuck not?" _And they hide scars._

"I see. So there's your answer."

"Answer to what?"

Grey tapped her mask covered face with a finger. "Same reason. My armor is just a little more literal than yours."

Jack stared at her.

Grey went back to maintaining her hardsuit. "We'll be meeting Dr. T'Soni at the dock in two days. This job is gonna be a tough one, so rest up. I want you in top form."

x-x-x

Dr. Liara T'Soni looked younger in person than in vids, Jack thought. The recently widowed asari maiden came onto the Omega's main dock, looking fully prepared for a serious firefight. She must have been briefed on who her contacts were because her eyes zero'd in on them without a moment's hesitation. The relieved expression on her youthful face when she spotted them made Jack feel a little uncomfortable. She might have agreed on acting as someone's bodyguard, but was not used to being depended on.

In her opinion, this soft asari scientist was completely in over her head. However, Jack respected Blue's resolve to do right by her dead bondmate by putting herself in harm's way. Tangling with mercs on Omega was bad enough. Throwing Cerberus and the Shadow Broker in the mix and heads would roll. On her own, Blue had no chance of getting the body. The maiden must have been aware of her odds as well. No wonder she forked out the credit for hired muscles.

"Dr. T'Soni." Grey greeted the asari with a polite nod. "This is Jack. You can call me Grey. We will serve as your bodyguards on Omega."

Blue didn't say anything back right away. She just silently returned the nod, looking anxious and on edge. "I need to go to a club called 'Afterlife' to meet with a Cerberus agent. They told me they can assist me on the recovery of the… of the body."

Jack tensed up immediately upon hearing the hated name. Before she had the chance to blow her top, Boss Lady gestured for her to stand down.

"Of course. We can find out more when we meet with the agent." Grey replied smoothly. "Jack here is not the biggest Cerberus fan. So please excuse her."

"On that, we can both agree. If not for this... I need to… I just want this to be over so I can have my bondmate back."

Grey gently placed a gloved hand on the asari's shoulder. The touch made her jump. "You've been through a lot. Just hang in there a little longer. You'll get what you came here for."

"Sh… Sure. Thank you." T'Soni closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. "I'm all right. I can do this."

"Afterlife is this way. You lead, we'll be right behind you."

The club was not far from where they were, but it did require them to go through a bustling commercial port. It seemed obvious to Jack that Blue was tagged the moment she touched down on Omega. She could feel many pairs of eyes glued to the back of her heads.

"I got four. You?" Grey asked.

Jack did a quick survey around the area. "Three. They are Blue Suns."

"One more on the balcony in the building on your left. Sniper." Grey said without turning her head. "We're almost there. They won't be able to make a move inside Aria's house. The kill zone is the open space right in front of the club. Dr. T'Soni, prepare to tumble. Jack, get the sniper."

Jack cracked her knuckles. "Gladly."

The three of them sprang into action the moment a flashbang grenade rolled down the steps in front of the club. Jack whipped towards her left and used her biotics to fling the sniper dressed in Blue Suns colours off the balcony. Behind her, the flashbang went off with a high pitched screech. She turned around, picked out another Blue Suns merc from the disoriented crowd, and launched the guy off the ground with a shockwave.

"Get her in there!" Firing off two rapid shots of biotic blasts, Boss Lady ordered Jack to help Blue clear the steps to find shelter inside Afterlife. The Suns wouldn't dare come crashing in with their guns ablazing. Aria would personally flay them alive if they tried. The mercs knew they were trying to get inside the club, so they threw themselves in front of the doors and began raining down bullets at them.

"Outta my way!" Biotics rolled off of Jack's body in visible waves. She let out a shout of exertion and tossed the mercs blocking her like rag dolls with an angry wave of her arms. T'Soni dashed through the doors and took cover from a hail of bullets fired at her direction; the Suns' reinforcements had come. Jack took cover behind a row of upturn seats right next to Blue. Technically, they were within the Queen's court so no mercs could get them without incurring her majesty's wrath. In reality, a stray bullet could kill just as well as a carefully aimed one. "Hurry up!" She yelled at Grey, who was slowly backing into the club while firing at the mercs to keep them away.

The shooting stopped soon after Grey made it inside the club.

"They're a lot more aggressive than I had anticipated." T'Soni commented with a perturbed expression on her face. "They initiated a live fire fight with lethal forces in the middle of the street. There were so many innocent bystanders around. They could've kill someone in their attempt to get to me."

Jack scoffed at Blue's blatant naivety. "Welcome to Omega."

"I think your official welcome party just arrived." Grey commented coolly.

Jack turned around and saw a batarian and a turian standing in the middle of the club's deserted hallway entrance. She knew who they were. Anyone who had been to the club knew who they were. "Dr. T'Soni. Please come with us. Aria wants to see you." The batarian, Anto, Jack thought that was his name if she remembered it correctly, said to the maiden in a way that demanded no objection.

Blue straightened up and brushed away some invisible dust on her form-fitting white and blue hardsuit that looked to be custom made for asari commandos. Her movement was graceful and fluid, hinting at experience with combat training. Only just now Jack realized the young asari chick might be more than a simple nerdy scientist than her title suggested. "Very well. Lead the way."

Inside the main floor of Afterlife, clubbers automatically fell quiet and made way for the group as they passed. They might have been drunk or high or both, but they were not stupid.

Aria T'Loak, the Pirate Queen, lounged on her throne in such a boneless yet predatory way, only a extremely deadly feline could compare. This woman was an apex predator; she reveled and flaunted her dominance with every fiber of her being. Jack was fully aware that no matter how much Cerberus had fucked with her to make herself the strongest human biotic in the universe, the Queen could crush her with a casual flick of her fingers.

"Dr. T'Soni." Aria's eyes slowly roamed over the maiden's body. She looked satisfied at what she saw. "What a fresh, sweet thing. How old are you? A hundred, a hundred and ten?"

"One hundred and seven." Blue answered.

"One hundred and seven." Aria repeated, smirking playfully at the maiden. "Half-way through your maidenhood. Not bad for someone so…" Her eyes flittered to Jack and Grey for a split second. "... young and innocent. You have the good sense to ask for help when you need it."

T'Soni squared her shoulders. "You know why I am here."

"I know everything worth knowing on this station. I _am_ Omega." Aria stated plainly.

"Then you understand why I must not fail in my mission." A spasm of pain flashed across Blue's face. "I need my bondmate back."

"Here is what I don't understand, Dr. T'Soni." Aria leaned forward from the lounging position and rested her elbows on her knees. "Forgive the bluntness, but Commander Shepard is dead as dead can be. I can sympathize with your desire to retrieve her body. Your need for closure is understandable. But why the desperation? You don't have to be here in person if you're not above hiring freelancers for the job. Enlighten me."

T'Soni took a deep breath. "I paid the ransom to the salvagers and obtained the coordinates where they hid my bondmate's body. Immediately after the transaction, I was contacted by both the Shadow Broker and Cerberus. The Broker threatened me. They said if I didn't surrender my bondmate over to them, they would take her from me by force. Cerberus promised to help me retrieve Shepard and protect me from the Broker's agents. I do not trust either of them. This is a task I need to attend to in person, not one to delegate to proxies."

"Hmm… You paid the salvagers?"

T'Soni nodded. "Half up front. The biometric scan was a perfect match to her Alliance record. I made sure it was really her body."

Aria clicked her tongue in clear disapproval. "That's where you messed up. You were being watched. They knew the moment you moved so much credit out of your account. Careless."

T'Soni bit her bottom lip.

"And you're here to retrieve her body?"

T'Soni shook her head. "No. I need to meet with a Cerberus contact first."

Aria raised an eyebrow at the reply. "Why? You just told me you don't trust them."

"Cerberus is a pro-human terrorist group. I am an asari; I'd sooner be a drooling imbecile than to trust them. But they said they can give me intel on who shot down the Normandy, and why the Shadow Broker wanted Shepard's body. I can't pass up this information. I need to know who is responsible for all this." T'Soni's demure, sweet countenance contorted into a cold mask of fury in a blink of an eye. The sudden switch was jarring to say the least. "I demand vengeance - blood spilled must be repaid with blood. Anything less would be an insult."

 _Yikes! Looks like Blue had some steel in her after all. Damn._ Jack made a mental note to avoid getting on her bad side for future reference.

"Well said." Aria smoothly rose from her seat. Frowning thoughtfully, she folded her arms across her chest. "The Blue Suns are acting on the Shadow Broker's orders, it would seem. I think I've figured this out. If my suspicions are correct, you are in a lot more trouble then you know, Dr. T'Soni." The Queen snapped her fingers and called out, "someone bring me Lawson, now."

Her turian henchman gave a curt nod and left to carry out her order. Jack had no idea what his name was.

"Have a seat while we wait. This shouldn't take long." Aria sat down on her customary spot and gestured grandiosely at the empty seats on the luxurious leather couch that took up the entire length of the balcony.

T'Soni gingerly sat down on the far side of the couch a good distance away from where Aria sat. She sat with her knees together and her hand folded daintily on top of her thighs like a well behaved schoolgirl in a lecture hall. Grey remained standing, so Jack didn't move from her spot either.

The self-satisfied smirk on Aria's face widened to a smug grin. The Queen of Omega seemed to be really enjoying the sight of Blue's obvious discomfort. "Relax before you strain something. I don't bite. Much." She leaned back into the couch and looked at their direction. "So tell me, Liara. Where did you find these two clowns?"

Jack bristled.

"We have a mutual friend on Illium. They came highly recommended." T'Soni replied simply.

"Hmm. Then I hope your friend is not prone to exaggeration. Because from I what can see," Aria looked at Jack with an arrogant smile on her lips and said, "this one is a ball of anger and resentment wrapped up in too much power and too little control. And this one," she looked at Grey and shook her head, "is ex-Alliance with enough emotional baggage to break an elcor's back. Not my first choice for something this important."

"I know what I'm doing." Jack blurted out.

"Sure you do." Aria scoffed dismissively at her. "But I'm not wrong, am I?"

"No." Grey answered instead.

Aria grinned. Jack just stood there and fumed silently.

T'Soni glanced at Grey with some puzzlement. "How did you know she is ex-Alliance?" She asked the Queen.

"I have eyes." Aria tilted her chin up haughtily. "Her posture, her gait, the way she carries herself practically scream military. The fact she is here means she's ex-Alliance. Her biotics is strong - I can feel it even though she tries to lock herself in a suit, as if it can insulate her from the outside world. She is an L2 then. Humans have a strange prejudice against their own biotics. As an L2 ex-Alliance, she is rejected twice over by her own people. I doubt anyone can come away without any emotional trauma." She peered at the subject of her analysis triumphantly. "How am I doing?"

Grey stood stock still. "Very impressive."

The Pirate Queen chuckled. "Besides, my people had you pegged the moment you set foot on Omega over a month ago. You stood out, Miss Alison Gunn. A fish your size does not slip my net."

"Please don't use that name. I go by 'Grey' now." Grey asked politely.

"If you insist." Aria agreed amiably, all the while holding the same aggravating smirk on her lips.

Jack really wanted to punch that fucking smile off her face.

"Ah, Miss Lawson." Aria said to the person walking into the elevated enclosure. The newcomer was a woman dressed in a form-fitting black and white bodysuit that was designed to show off her tits and ass. Even though she looked slightly disheveled from the manhandling by Aria's people, not a hair was out of place on her full head of luscious black silk cascading off her shoulders in gentle curls. "I was wondering why the Illusive Man sent his top agent to my humble little station."

"Aria." The woman with perfect hair greeted curtly. She turned to Blue's direction and gave her a polite nod. "Dr. T'Soni."

T'Soni began. "Operative Lawson. You'd mentioned that you had intel for me."

"Yes." Lawson glanced at Aria's direction deliberately before she replied, "I think it's best if we have this conversation in private."

T'Soni crossed her arms over her chest. Her purple lips thinned to a petulant frown. "Aria is courteous enough to provide shelter and a neutral ground for me to conduct business. The least I can do is to repay her generosity with some honesty. You may speak freely in her presence."

The Queen gave Blue a look of clear approval.

Lawson sighed. "Very well. But I must preface that the information I am about to divulge was obtained through enormous efforts and tremendous sacrifices. This information is extremely valuable, and I cannot stress just how dangerous it is in the wrong hands. The Illusive Man has instructed me to pass on this intel to you as a token of goodwill - Cerberus is not your enemy."

Jack let out a derisive snort. "Yeah, right."

Lawson shot her a glare. Jack flip her the bird with both hands. The look of pure shock on her face made Jack feel all gooey inside.

T'Soni gave the Cerberus bitch a flat look. "I will make my own judgement, Operative Lawson. The intel, please."

"There is a reason why the Alliance has so far been unable to find a match to the dreadnought that shot down the Normandy - it was a Collector ship. The Collectors are a technologically advanced race that lived beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Most people consider them a myth, but trust me, they are anything but. Once in a few centuries, they would venture out of their homeworld and trade advanced technologies for people with rare genetic mutations. For whatever nefarious purposes, they collect people like they are things; that's why they are called the Collectors. We have proof the Shadow Broker is trying to sell Commander Shepard's body to those aliens."

T'Soni shot the woman a clear look of incredulity. "You are telling me that the monster of the Terminus systems shot down the Normandy because they wanted to add Shepard to their collection? You'll have to pardon me, but this is straining what I am willing to believe."

"You don't have to take my word for it, Dr. T'Soni." Lawson turned to give Aria a significant look. "Why don't you ask Aria herself? She killed a few Collectors with her own hands right here on the station. She probably knows more than I do."

 _Grey was right!_ Jack tried her best to appear uninterested. _Where the hell did she learn about all this?_

"Get out." Aria rose from her seat. Her voice was cold and flat, and her expression was a thunderhead.

Lawson lost the charming smile on her face. "Excuse me?"

Aria narrowed her eyes at Lawson. The menacing aura shrouding the Queen was enough to force the Cerberus cheerleader to take an involuntary step back. "I said, get off my station. I do not tolerate vermines scurrying about in my domain. You have overplayed your hand, Cerberus. If you think you can get away with spying on me in my own house, then you are sadly mistaken. Grizz, get her out of my sight. I've heard enough."

In her desperation, Lawson decided to appeal to Blue before Aria's men could physically eject her from the club. "Please, hear me out! Dr. T'Soni, we can bring her back! That's why we contacted you. The Illusive Man is willing to commit an astronomical amount of resources to bring Commander Shepard back to life!"

Aria put a hand up to signal her men to stand back and wait. T'Soni just sat there, looking completely stunned.

Lawson seized the chance to resume campaigning for her case. "A mysterious alien race with advanced technology and vile use for organics; ring any bell? The Collectors are working for the Reapers! The Council can whitewash the truth, but you of all people should know who the real enemies are. Commander Shepard defeated Sovereign, a Reaper. They targeted her specifically because they perceived her as a threat. Think about that. We need Shepard to win the war against the Reapers. This is bigger than Cerberus. This is bigger than humanity. The survival of all civilization is at stake. Please. Shepard is dead. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

All eyes were on the Commander's young widow. Impossible as it might sound, Lawson had a good point. Hell, even Jack agreed. Case in point, just look at herself. They wanted to create strong human biotics, they got Jack. The process might have been messy and painful, but they sure got results.

"I…" T'Soni began. "I need to… I can't. I can't give you an answer right away."

"The Shadow Broker is already on your trail. You don't have the luxury of time. If you don't transfer her to Cerberus soon, I can't guarantee how long we can elude the Broker's agents. Can you afford risking the Reapers getting their claws on Shepard's body? You've seen what they did to Saren."

A visible shudder ran down Blue's body. The young maiden looked genuinely terrified by the prospect. Out of morbid curiosity, Jack had to wonder what happened to this Saren person.

"It's best to let the dead rest." Aria spoke solemnly. There was a fleeting look of sadness and sympathy in her eyes, but it was gone as soon as Jack notice it. The Queen put a finger under Blue's chin and tilted her head up to look her in the eyes. "She was your bondmate. It's your choice. Choose wisely." She turned around and sat back down on her throne. "Escort our guests to the dock. You have my permission to kill anyone who interferes with Dr. T'Soni's business."

The Queen had thus spoken. When the group left Afterlife through the front doors, no resistance was found.

x-x-x

The four of them boarded a Kodiak drop shuttle Aria had graciously allowed T'Soni to use. The young widow went to the shuttle's control panel and plotted a course to a specific set of coordinates into the autopilot system.

T'Soni was in no mood to talk. During the entire trip, she just sat quietly in her seat with her eyes fixed somewhere on the floor, lost in her own grief. Lawson was smart enough to keep her teeth together. Jack suspected Blue would have warped the Cerberus bitch through the shuttle's roof if she dared to interrupt her private thoughts. That was precisely what Jack herself would have done.

It didn't take long. The autopilot brought them to one of numerous derelict fuelling stations orbiting the planet Imorkan within the Sahrabarik system. Whoever those salvagers were, they were professional enough to arrange for a dead drop without drawing attention to themselves.

The stasis pod was hidden amongst an entire warehouse of battered old crates. Without proper instructions, this pod could have stayed hidden in obscurity forever.

T'Soni approached the pod. Her entire countenance screamed of agony. It was almost painful to watch. She reached for the control panel, but she was stopped when Grey gripped her wrist.

"Don't." Jack had never heard Grey speak in such a tender voice.

T'Soni looked up at the owner of the gloved hand. Two trails of tears silently rolled down her blue cheeks. "I must."

"It will hurt you."

T'Soni shook her head. "I owe her that much."

Haltingly, Grey withdrew her hand.

T'Soni unlocked the hermetic seal of the stasis pod. The coffin hissed open. Jack barely held back a wince when she saw what was inside.

Commander Shepard's body was nothing more than meat and tubes. Bits and pieces of her shattered N7 armor were embedded throughout the mutilated corpse. All of her extremities were missing, probably burnt away or torn off from the crash. At least her head and her torso was mostly intact. Her hardsuit had done a good enough job of preserving her body, even though only fragments of it were present inside the pod. The majority of it was probably left in the crash site. The salvagers had stripped her to verify her identity; one last slap to the face to pile on top of a mountain of insults. No one, least of Commander Shepard, Hero of Elysium and Savior of the Citadel, deserved this kind of indignity.

 _No way anyone could be revived from that._ Jack glared at Lawson, furious at the lies she spun to cheat a grieving widow out of her bondmate's body. _Not even Cerberus._

T'Soni reached in, and slowly ran her fingers through tattered red hair in a lover's caress.

Feeling like she was intruding on an intensely private moment, Jack averted her eyes.

"Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." T'Soni whispered.

"Dr. T'Soni," Lawson began.

"Shut up, bitch!" Jack got into the woman's face and shoved her back. "Show some fucking respect."

"Thank you, Jack. It's alright." T'Soni spoke without tearing her eyes away from the broken remains. She delicately lifted something shiny from within the pod - a chain - and hung it around her own neck. It was charred and slightly melted, but it was still recognizable. It was the Commander's Alliance dogtag. "Operative Lawson. You promise to take care of her?"

"I give you my word." The Cerberus agent swore solemnly. "The chance of success is small, I won't lie. But if anyone can pull this off, it would be Cerberus. Our resources are vast, and for Commander Shepard, we will spare no expense. I will dedicate my life to bring her back to life. "

T'Soni nodded. "Keep me updated."

"I will."

Jack didn't know what to say. It looked like Blue was really going to let Cerberus have her bondmate's body and gamble on the slim chance they would deliver on this impossible promise. But Aria was right. T'Soni got to make the call, even though Jack knew she was making a huge mistake.

Grey spoke up. Her clipping tone left no room for negotiation. "Contact your own people for pick up, Operative Lawson. Dr. T'Soni has had a very trying day. We're leaving."

Lawson made no move to stop them.

x-x-x

A/N: Lots of elements borrowed from DA. Again, this is not a crossover. I enjoyed the look of Blood Dragon Armor. I thought it would've looked even better with a sword. About the timing: the Normandy had been shot down for a little over two weeks, but as far as Aria knew, Alison Gunn had been on Omega for over a month. This is deliberate, not a mistake.

To the anon who left an angry review back in chapter 16 because they thought I had killed off Shepard: there is a lot I could say to you, but I'll settle with "Gotcha!" I was worried that the fake-her-death cliche wouldn't be convincing enough, but at least I fooled you.


	18. II-03: Lies

Book II - Chapter 3: Lies

Kasumi prowled through the zigzagging Omega back alleys like an oversized cat patrolling her hunting ground.

In one short month, the amount of resources the thief had gathered from pilfering goods out of various gangs' warehouses and hidey holes on Omega was enough to outfit an army. On top of that, there were also all the easy credits just lying around behind thinly firewalled gambling terminals, practically begging to be hacked. To be honest, all the ill-gotten wealth was starting to make her feel a little bloated.

For reasons other than the plentiful loot and trigger-happy targets to test her skills, it was actually kind of fun to explore this ancient space station. Omega had so many secret tunnels and hidden walkways. Some of the best payloads were recovered from sealed off sections that no one else had been to in decades.

Normally this kind of mundane smuggling operation bored her, but she wasn't doing it for herself anyway. Zaeed always looked so happy when she delivered him crates of supplies with the Blue Suns' own shuttles, and Shiala was extra impressed when she scored rare tech from the Eclipse's engineers. Kasumi tried not to play favourites, so she rotated amongst all the different merc gangs, just to be fair. Different gangs had their own niche, and Kasumi had the talent and experience of sniffing out where they stashed the best goodies. Eclipse had the best quality hardware, the Blue Suns had the most ships, the Blood Pack had the most raw materials, and the Talons had the most liquid assets.

She just made sure to stay far away from Aria's stuff.

When Liara, Jack, and "Alison Gunn" - whose identity was, by the way, one of her best works ever, even if it meant walking around in that heavy armour for weeks on end - were busy getting shot at by the Blue Suns under the Shadow Broker's orders, Kasumi was deep within the Suns' territory. Sneaking into a merc HQ was child's play, especially when she had over a full month to scope out the lay of the land.

It also helped when the target was too distracted to notice her.

The current leader of the Blue Suns on Omega was Tarak, a batarian with an awful temper and a mean streak. "You'll need to double the fee, Tazzik. It's getting expensive. You think I care what the Broker thinks? This is Omega. Aria can do much worse than the Broker can. You don't scare me." His prominent jugular vents puffed angrily as he shouted at a salarian dressed in a white and silver hardsuit with the Broker's red triangular emblem painted on his chestplate.

Tazzik, the Shadow Broker agent Tarak was yelling at, appeared to be completely unimpressed by his outburst. Tazzik was huge by salarian standards and Kasumi never thought she would ever use the word "rugged" to describe a salarian, but he looked as if he had more than a few drops of krogan blood in his veins. "Yes, I'm aware where we are. Aria might be Queen on the station, but the Broker's power spans across the entire galaxy. If I were you, I would show more respect."

"Baa! I've got enough problems to worry about right now. Chief amongst which is that I'm losing men doing the Broker a solid while not getting paid my fair share! Do you have any idea how many men I've lost from that one job with the Collectors? I was lucky I cut them loose before Aria closed her little blue hands around my neck! The Blood Pack are encroaching on my territory, the Eclipse are stealing my shipments, and the Talons are recruiting from my own company! So yes, I'm not doing the Broker any more favours unless I get paid!"

Tazzik sneered disdainfully at the merc leader. "Your petty woes are not my concern. The Broker has no use for you if you can't even keep such minor issues under control. Finish the job, Tarak, and you'll get paid - at the usual rate. How hard can it be to kidnap one helpless asari scientist?"

 _Mistake number one: they've severely underestimated Liara. Mistake number two: the good doctor has help._ Kasumi thought gleefully to herself.

"This is not about the job, this is about taking on too much risk! It's not worth it anymore. Tell the Broker…" Tarak trailed off, glared at his buzzing Omni-tool, and answered the urgent call from his subordinate. "What is it, Cathka? I'm in the middle of something here."

"The Mission has failed. The mark is officially under Aria's protection. Unless you want to piss off the Queen, I suggest you abort."

Tarak turned to glare at Tazzik before he replied, "fine. Abort the mission. Tell them to pull out."

"On it. Sorry, boss. We've already lost half of the squad. Cathka out."

"Motherfucking…" Tarak turned off his Omni-tool and ran a hand tiredly over his eyes. "This is what I'm talking about. I just lost seven men over nothing! Go away, Tazzik. Tell the Broker to do his own dirty work next time."

Tazzik clicked his tongue and stormed off with a look of disgust clear on his face.

Kasumi grinned and slinked away as well, having accomplished her own mission. She had successfully hacked into Tazzik's Omni-tool and installed a spying program while he was distracted by an irate merc gang leader. The salarian was well known as one of the Shadow Broker's top agents. The next time Tazzik contacted his boss, Kasumi would be able to trace the transmission. The program probably wouldn't be sophisticated enough to track the Broker all the way to their hideout, but it was a start.

She wondered whether the Cerberus leg of the operation was going as well as it was on her end.

x-x-x

T'Soni managed to hold herself together long enough until she was safe within the privacy of the Kodiak, away from Lawson's prying eyes. As soon as the shuttle took off, the young widow sagged into her seat, and wept.

Boss Lady sat down next to Blue and gathered her in her arms. Jack watched in quiet astonishment as Grey hurriedly took off a gauntlet, and pressed her bare hand against T'Soni's tear-stained face. The effect was immediate. T'Soni's eye flashed the solid black of a meld, and they clung to each other in a desperate embrace.

"I am so sorry." Grey murmured in a gruff voice. Jack was absolutely certain the woman was crying underneath her helmet just as hard as Blue was since their minds were linked together as one. She wondered what the Boss Lady looked like in such an emotionally vulnerable state; maybe this was the reason she kept her face covered all the time.

It was an unequivocal demonstration of trust for a woman who refused to show even an inch of her skin to the outside world to freely allow another person inside her head. Who was T'Soni to the ex-Alliance Cat 6 washout?

Jack bit down on her lower lip to prevent herself from saying anything. This was none of her business. They had only known each other for how long? Jack was Grey's hired gun, and nothing more. They were not friends. She had no right sticking her nose in where it was not wanted. If Grey was polite enough to not ask questions, the least Jack could do was to return the same fucking courtesy. To be honest though, her curiosity was killing her, but she knew better than to disrespect their privacy.

"Goddess… It could have been… That would have been…" T'Soni sobbed into Grey's chestplate, delirious with grief.

"Shh…" Grey cooed while rubbing soothing circles on T'Soni's back. "I'm right here."

They stayed huddled together for a long while. Eventually, the two reluctantly pulled away from each other and settled back to their own seats. Grey put her gauntlet back on and reverted to her aloof self, if not brooding at a stronger intensity. As for T'Soni, Jack could easily recognize the look of cold, calculating detachment. This traumatizing experience must have galvanized the naive maiden's resolve and frozen her bleeding heart to ice.

When they were about halfway back to Omega, T'Soni's Omni-tool began to buzz. The muted noise broke the gloomy silence inside the shuttle.

"Dr. T'Soni." A garbled voice of indistinguishable origin spoke through the device.

Blue's expression hardened into marble in an instant. "The Shadow Broker." She hissed out the moniker like a curse.

Jack's brows lifted up in surprise.

The person on the line continued after the terse greeting. "I am most disappointed to learn that you have allied yourself with the wrong party. Cerberus is not your friend."

The look of absolute fury twisted Blue's face into something truly terrifying to behold. "In this case, Cerberus is the lesser of two evils, and that's saying something. You deal with monsters, Broker."

"You are only delaying the inevitable, Dr. T'Soni. You are a fearful child alone in the dark. Holding onto your security blanket won't make a difference when the monsters come."

T'Soni's body was trembling with rage. She jumped to her feet and began pacing in agitation. "The Collectors knew where to find the Normandy because you told them! You sold us out! Mark my words, you will pay dearly for your crime. When I'm done with you, there won't be enough left to fill a coffee cup."

The Shadow Broker sounded completely unfazed. "Empty threats from a whelping youngling. This is nothing more than a pointless temper tantrum. At the end of the day, Dr. T'Soni, I always get what I want. You will do well to remember that. Shadow Broker out."

After the transmission was cut off, Grey approached T'Soni from behind and put a gloved hand on her back. "Hey, forget about them. The Broker is just being a sore loser."

"I hate them. I just want to…Urgh!" T'Soni growled and made an angry gesture of choking someone to death. "I will find them, and I will destroy them."

"We will. Soon." Grey promised.

Jack wasn't nearly as optimistic, but she wasn't going to burst their bubbles. She of all people understood how cathartic it was to fantasize about righteous vengeance; there was no need to spoil their fun by telling them how impossible it was to bring down one of the largest criminal organizations in the galaxy. Jack herself had no illusion of her chance against Cerberus, no matter how much she hated them. God, she hated them, but she hated the fact that she always had to run from them even more. With the Hellhound nipping at her heels, she could never stop running.

When they finally disembarked at Omega's main dock, the thief was there waiting for them. "Dr. T'Soni, your transport is ready. Follow me." Kasumi said succinctly and led Blue towards a different shuttle.

Jack caught Grey giving T'Soni one last squeeze around her wrist. For some reason, seeing this small gesture of comfort really bothered her. Dealing with Cerberus must have been messing with her head, Jack thought grumpily. She couldn't wait to get shit-faced to block out the memory of this long day.

The job might not pay much, but at least the Boss Lady covered her tab.

x-x-x

After the emotionally draining mission, the ex-Alliance secluded herself inside the security of her own quarters, locked the door, and took off her helmet.

The very much alive Jane Shepard went inside the ensuite and grabbed a towel to clean up her face. Watching Liara surrender the fake body to Cerberus was difficult enough, but to be inside her mind and experience the soul-rending grief first hand… Shepard fully comprehended why Liara was so bitter and distant towards her on Illium when she first came back. It was a coping mechanism. While Shepard's body was broken, Liara's heart was equally devastated. During the two years it took for Miranda to rebuild her, Liara had to pick up the shattered pieces of her heart and stitch them together by herself. It left scars that would never heal.

This time, even though Liara was fully aware that the mutilated corpse was only a very convincing fake, she was still severely traumatized by the experience. To be fair, it was probably a million times easier on Liara than having to hand over Shepard's actual corpse like last time. But still, it was awful enough.

It broke her heart to watch her bondmate's own vivid imagination invent all sorts of horrors to torment herself with. Inside Liara's mind, Shepard saw her corpse transform into a grotesque husk like Saren had. She saw herself alive, but twisted by Cerberus ideals - a xenophobic pro-human evil twin, a pathetic mockery to her very legacy. She saw Liara trying to save her from going down with the burning ship, but fail to pull her into the escape pod no matter how hard she tried. Shepard had to admit, the last scenario was the most painful one to watch. It reminded her too much of her own failure.

There was cruel and unusual, and then there was _this_. Shepard thought she deserved a special place in Hell for what she had done. If she were smart enough to think of a better plan, maybe she didn't have to make sweet, innocent Liara see the mutilated doppelganger and experience this kind of agony.

Shepard sat down on the floor with her knees pulled up, and held her pounding head with both hands.

Who was she kidding? Her name was on the list to be harvested. She couldn't possibly keep running from the Reapers. Well, she might have been able to run for a little while, but only if she devoted all her attention to dodging Reaper agents. Last time around, Harbinger sent a Collector ship to shoot down the Normandy just to kill her, and twenty innocent crew members died when the frigate went down. If she had lived through the destruction of the Normandy, Harbinger would simply try again. And who knew what kind of collateral damage that would have resulted in?

There was so much preparation to be made for the Reapers' arrival, Shepard had no time to waste. Being laid out on a cold slab in a Cerberus lab as a corpse for two years was out of the question. She couldn't do this to Liara, not to mention being spaced _really_ sucked, and there was no guarantee Miranda could resurrect her for the second time. The only option Shepard could see out of this death trap was to let her enemies think they had succeeded.

At her request, the brilliant cloning specialist Dr. Tartakovsky had assembled a non-viable clone of Shepard in four day's time. After she picked up the brain-dead blank from Eden Prime, Dr. Chakwas went to work to replicate the various implants on the doppelganger to make it a perfect match to her Alliance medical record.

For what she was putting Liara and Dr. Chakwas through, Shepard completely agreed that she deserved the slaps.

But the only reason why she could cheat death was because Engineer Adams and Tali installed several one-man escape pods near the cockpit. Thanks to her foreknowledge, she had managed to buy more time for the Normandy's kinetic barrier to kick in at the last moment to withstand one more shot from the Collector ship. As another precaution, Shepard herself had upgraded her old N7 armor to be fully environmentally sealed with an internal air supply system for use in space and other extreme conditions. No more cut air tubes, no ma'am. Even if she had been spaced this time around, she could have float in the black for days before running out of air, assuming Kasumi couldn't read the signals from the extremely robust location tracker embedded in her hardsuit.

Shepard had had no wish to die so she had made sure all her bases were covered. There were safety nets upon safety nets she could fall back on. She did not travel back in time just to be killed by the Collectors again. She had planned this out in great details precisely because her life depended on it.

Operation Coventry was named after the famous Coventry conspiracy in human history. Many sceptics believed that during WWII, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had intentionally allowed the city of Coventry to be attached by the Nazi to hide the fact that the Allied force had cracked the German Enigma code. It was a conspiracy theory that refused to die, even though it had been debunked by many historians. Shepard thought the name "Coventry" was an apt one for her situation.

Let the Illusive Man think he had the upper hand. Let him waste his vast resources on resurrecting a dead hunk of meat that had never lived. Let him weave his little fantasy of manipulating humanity's most famous hero to ride into the abyss and bring back the dragon's hoard in Cerberus' name.

Shepard was no hero. She was a simple woman who was thrust into a position where she must do a hero's job, or watch all her loved ones die. She was human.

And right now, she was a ghost.

Massaging her forehead to ease off a steadily pulsing headache, Shepard picked herself up from the floor and checked over her appearance in the mirror. The stress and the separation from her bondmate had put a smudge of dark circles under her eyes, but overall she seemed well enough to carry on her work.

"Vigil, initiate Torchlight protocol. Raise Admiral Hackett."

The Prothean VI stored within the customized FENRIS mech responded, "acknowledged. Admiral Hackett is available."

"Patch me through."

"Aye, Warden." Vigil scanned Shepard's body once and projected out a miniature holographic image of Hackett in front of its stubby mechanical head.

"Hello, Shepard." Hackett greeted her warmly. "I assume everything went well?"

"Yes, sir. Cerberus took the bait." Shepard gave the Admiral a thin smile. "They are planning to resurrect Commander Shepard with every resource available. They'll have their best scientists on the job, and they'll spare no expense. We're talking about years of research and billions of credits."

Hackett chuckled. "I wish them good luck on that."

"What about things from your end, sir?"

"I've managed to convince the defense board to keep better intel in the Terminus systems. I'm sending people out to set up a network of probes. This is a relatively small commitment on the Alliance's part, so the board agreed without any fuss. Now if I had asked for installation of comm towers and AA guns, which I do think we need, they would've dragged their heels for months."

"Early detection is about all we could've hoped for. The Alliance has no authority in the Terminus systems. Colonies out there don't obey our laws and don't pay our taxes. They might be human, but they can't shun us and still expect us to be their protectors. When the Reapers come in strength, we'll have to pull in our fleets. This is a war where we will lose everything if we try to save everyone."

Hackett let out a sigh. "You're preaching to the choir, Shepard. I completely agree, we are stretched too thin. One good news is that Parliament has tripled this year's defense budgets, now that we are expected to help keep the peace within Citadel space. But they won't commit to the level of preparation we both know we need. Even if they had thrown in their full support, it still wouldn't have been enough. Humanity can't do this alone. The rest of the Council has made it perfectly clear that the Reapers are a theoretical enemy you've made up as a thought exercise. They are blaming everything on the geth."

"I would like to see the look in their eyes when this theoretical enemy sets their actual asses on fire." Shepard muttered darkly. "Fine, there are ways around that. They can't stop us from updating our training programs to include fighting this theoretical enemy. Our ground troops need to learn how to fight a defensive war with limited supplies while being greatly outnumbered. Our ships need to know how to evacuate whole colonies at a drop of a hat while being fired at."

Hackett rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You're right, that is something we can do. I don't need to go to the board to implement training drills. Send me a list of recommendations. With the Prothean Beacon inside your head, you're _the_ foremost expert on Reapers and their tactics. The Council might not want to heed your doomsday warnings, but I want every gruesome detail. I need every edge to get us through this."

Shepard inwardly congratulated herself for having the foresight to keep Hackett in the loop. This man was going to save so many lives. "Yes, sir. I'll get them to you ASAP. Speaking of the Council, how are they taking my supposed demise? All I've heard is their official statement on public news broadcast."

Hackett looked amused by her question. "Your untimely death has been a huge inconvenience to the Council, according to Councillor Anderson. I know you took great pains to capture the footage of the Normandy's destruction, but at the same time, this evidence became a great pain in the Council's backside. The Collector ship looks nothing like a geth dreadnought. They are aware something extremely dangerous is lurking out there, but they are not willing to do anything drastic to deal with the problem. As far as I know, they've deployed more STG units to the Terminus systems, but that's about it. Interestingly enough, the salarian Councillor seemed awfully convinced the dreadnought was of batarian make."

"Batarian? Ah, right. Valern must know about the Leviathan of Dis. He is not completely wrong. The Collectors are working for the Reapers, the Beacon was clear on that."

"Conjectures, that's what they'll say. Only you have seen the vision, and it has been 50,000 years." Hackett frowned with a slight shake of his head. "This is enough evidence to motivate me to do something about it; hardly enough for the Council to send out a ship to investigate. Especially when the most informed Councillor is convinced the batarians are to blame."

"And the batarians are the Alliance's own problem." Shepard finished with a scowl on her face. "Typical."

"Exactly. So we are on our own until you can bring forward irrefutable proof to the Council that this is a threat to all the races, not just to humanity."

"Working on it, sir. My anonymity has its advantages."

"I trust you to do whatever that's necessary to get the job done." Hackett paused, and added, "one more thing. I'm kicking your mother off my ship to take over as the CO of the new Kilimanjaro-class dreadnought, Orizaba. I don't know how, but she figured out the switch on her own, and she's _not_ happy with me. The Alliance needs competent leaders. I'm not letting her refuse promotion this time. You probably don't need me to tell you how furious she is with you, do you?"

Shepard winced. "I didn't want her involved in this mess. The whole world was watching. I needed her to show genuine reaction in front of the camera."

The Admiral shook his head. "Well, she is genuinely pissed, I can tell you that. In any case, I should let you go. Stay safe, Shepard. Hackett out."

The transmission cut off after that.

 _Great. Angry family and friends to look forward to. On top of that, more paperwork. Maybe it's easier if I just stay dead._

Sighing to herself tiredly, Shepard slowly took off her armor and headed to the washroom. Hopefully a hot shower would wash away enough of her exhaustion so that she could go back to work again.

She would rest when she was dead.

x-x-x

Forest.

Shepard found herself lost in the same forest again. The half withered trees were tombstones, and the leaves on the forest floor were bleached bone.

Her body was filled with lead. Her heart, dread.

Shadows and laughter. The dead were haunting her steps.

She was alone.

 _Shepard…_

She spun around, but the reedy whisper already dissipated into the fog.

 _Shepard…_

Liara's voice. Liara was calling to her.

 _Shepard!_

She was no longer in a forest. The trees transformed into broken concrete pillars. The floor was asphalt littered with debris. She looked up, and saw the column of light, the Conduit.

Harbinger screeched. Its red energy beam carved a charred path at her direction. Shepard ran towards the light.

The edge of her vision was dark and tinged in red. Her body was heavy. She could hear her heart thumping dully inside her skull.

 _Liara is dead. Why am I alive?_

Husks were blocking her path. Her biotics was completely tapped out. She raised her arm and squeeze the trigger of her pistol.

"Hey!"

Shepard woke with a gasp. There was a whoosh, and then a loud clatter accompanied by an angry curse.

"Jesus fuck!" Jack yelled while picking herself up from the far end of the living room. "What's your problem?"

"Wha?" Was Shepard's reply. Clutching one side of her head in confusion, she took a moment to survey her surrounding. She was sitting on the couch in the apartment on Omega, wearing a black jumpsuit and a recon hood; she must have fallen asleep in the middle of typing out her report to Admiral Hackett.

Jack looked pissed. "You fucking hit me, asshole!"

"I did what?!"

"Yeah, you threw me with your biotics." Jack frowned at her, clearly annoyed. "You were like, thrashing on the couch. And then you just bolted up and threw me across the room."

Shepard scratched her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I, umm, had a nightmare."

Jack seemed stunned by her frank admission. "Oh. That's fucked." The heavily tattooed woman sat down on the couch, looking slightly unsure of herself. "Did the mind thing with Blue mess with your head?"

"Yeah." Shepard admitted quietly.

"You two knew each other." Jack said. It wasn't a question.

Shepard nodded. "Yeah."

"You love her." Jack said after a long pause. It wasn't a question, either.

With her eyes concealed behind the recon hood, Shepard gave the woman an evaluating look. "Yeah."

"She's totally still in love with Commander Shepard."

"I know."

Jack cursed. "Damn. That's shitty. I'm sorry."

"I'm not." Shepard stated with complete honesty. "As long as she's happy, I'm happy."

Jack gawked at her like she just said the dumbest thing in the world. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." She declared.

 _Right._

"Blue is _not_ happy. In case you didn't notice, her bondmate is dead. We saw her corpse. You want her, you should just fucking go for it. None of this honorable, noble shit. This is real life, not a fairy tale, Girl Scout."

Shepard rolled her eyes. There had to be something in the water when Jack was giving her relationship advice. "Dr. T'Soni does not appreciate unwanted advances. She is very reserved."

"Oh, yeah? You into the nerdy librarian type?" Jack scanned her up and down appraisingly. "I can see that. Not my usual style, but I've been around. Her types are total freaks between the sheets."

 _On second thought, no. Maybe Jack just wanted to talk about sex_. Shepard shook her head in exasperation.

"What? Am I making you uncomfortable? You a prude or something?" Jack grinned evilly at her. The scantily clad woman scooted closer next to her on the couch. "Normally I'm not a member in the girl's club. I like my meat tough, you know what I mean." She made an obscene gesture to get the point across. "Something solid to sink my teeth into. But I've eaten my fair share of pussy. You want some pointers on how to work the freaky Blue, you let me know. If you ask nicely enough," Jack licked her lips and put a hand on Shepard's knee. "I might give you a personal tutorial."

Having known about Jack's attitude towards casual sex, her advance was not completely unexpected. "No, but thank you for the generous offer. I know my way around an azure." Shepard declined politely.

Jack pulled her hand back and crossed her arms around her chest. "Fine, whatever. Let me know when you change your mind." She slipped her middle and ring fingers all the way into her mouth, sliding the digits between her lips a few times before popping them out to make a very graphic point. "I'll even let you keep the clothes on if you're feeling shy. I can work my magic, Boss Lady."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle good naturedly at Jack's open-ended offer. "Sure. You'll be the first to know if I change my mind. I wouldn't hold my breath though."

Jack sulked at the rejection. "Your loss."

"Jack." Shepard explained patiently to the younger woman who had suffered much since the day Cerberus got their hands on her as a baby. "I don't do casual sex."

Jack jumped up from the couch and pulled her lips back in an angry snarl. "I get it, you think you're too good for me. Well, fuck you too, you stuck-up bitch." She cupped a hand over her crotch and made another incredibly obscene gesture. "'Cause I can get what I want anywhere else." She shouted, before storming off the apartment.

Shepard sighed. She would need to discreetly follow Jack just to make sure she wouldn't do anything rash to harm herself. Purgatory was a bad place for Jack. Parading around in a maximum security prison with nothing but tit-straps invited attention of the worse kind. Shepard didn't know exactly when the Blue Suns would capture Jack in the original timeline, or even how, but she would do her best to prevent this from happening again. She already failed Jack once - she died under her watch during the suicide mission. Failing her again would be unacceptable.

If her mother had not hidden her away on Mindoir after the second eezo exposure, it was very possible she might have ended up in the same Cerberus facility as another test subject. Having seen what was left of the research lab on Pragia, Shepard was determined to help Jack recover. She was no psychiatrist, but it was obvious to her that all the drug abuse, violent outbursts, and excessive display of sexual promiscuity were another form of self-harm. Jack might think lonely and alive worked just fine, but the scarred young woman deserved so much more in life than she allowed herself to believe.

Shepard checked her Omni-tool. Ten minutes head start should be long enough. Jack didn't trust her yet, so it was best to leave her enough breathing room. She just hoped getting into a drunken barroom brawl was the worst trouble Jack would get herself into.

x-x-x

Nope. Apparently, Jack was a lot more inventive when it came to getting herself into sticky situations. The ten minutes head start she had given her? Jack had handily managed to use only half of that time to successfully pick a fight with a gang of Blue Suns mercs and hijack their shuttle for a joyride. By the time Shepard found the half-dead mercs, the stolen shuttle was off-world already. The harmless grand theft auto escalated into piracy when she took over a small space station in a drug-fueled rampage with the group of low-lives she partied with at a sketchy bar. Immediately after forcefully taking control of the space station. Then she crashed the thing on a hanar moon because no one should initiate FTL jump while under influence.

Jack was lucky that she was smart enough to stumble into an escape pod before it was too late, 'though the poor moon would never look the same.

"Aww. My head." Jack groaned in pain while gingerly sitting up from the shuttle floor.

"Here. Drink some water." Shepard set down a water bottle next to her.

Jack looked around blearily. "I don't get hungover. Why does my head hurt?"

"Because you are a dumbass. And you are now wanted for vandalism by the Illuminated Primacy." Shepard pulled up a holo of Jack's wanted poster from her Omni-tool. "I had to haul your tattooed ass out of the new crater on a hanar sacred moon. Just so you are aware, you are also being fined for indecent exposure at a religiously significant site. I don't know what kind of orgy you were having on that space station, but you were in the buff when you crashed it."

Jack's face scrunched up in concentration. "Oh yeah, that. It's not my fault the navigation system was complete crap! I just wanted to take a closer look at the tourist trap. They wouldn't stop talking about it. And it was hot. The air condition system was shittier than the navigation system, so I took off my clothes. Though it could have also been the Hallex I took. It was a blur. There was some banging… I thought there was a hanar hanging there at some point, either before or after the threesome with the drells. That must be it. Should've spit it out rather than swallow. I forgot drell jizz is hallucinogenic."

"Too much information, Jack."

"Why am I here anyway?" Jack looked around and found herself inside a shuttle while covered in a blanket. Next to the bottle of water was a stack of neatly folded clothes and a few nutrient bars.

"I'm taking you back to the apartment. You need a shower." Shepard made a vague gesture at her direction and explained delicately, "the, umm, hallucinogenic material should be washed off ASAP. You might like it, but I consider it a biohazard." She paused for a brief second, and added with a shudder, "and it's gross. Seriously. It's disgusting. Just talking about it makes _me_ want to take a shower."

"That's not what I meant." Jack said slowly. "I walked out. You didn't have to do anything. So why?"

"Do I have to have a reason?"

"Yes, you do. People stay around for sex, for biotics. It's always the same story. You don't want sex, and you hardly need my biotics, so what is it?"

Shepard shrugged. "I miss your friendly nature when you're not around."

Jack frowned at her. "I don't get you."

"Why not just take everything I say at face value? I could be genuine."

"Genuine? You?" Jack scoffed at her. "Come on, you've been around, you know how the galaxy works. You let someone get that close, it just means they need a shorter knife."

"That's a depressing way to live your life."

"Ha! At least I'm honest about it." Jack pointed at the recon hood Shepard was wearing and said, "me? What you see is what you get. I can't even see your face. And you want me to think you're my friend?"

Shepard considered it for a long moment. "Would you trust me more if you saw my face?"

Jack was taken aback by the question. "What? No. I don't care what you look like, alright? Forget what I said."

"Ok." Shepard dropped the subject and settled back into her seat.

"Ok." Jack crossed her arms across her naked torso and glowered at the bottle of water. The thin blanket was draped across her lower half, but she made no move to cover herself up more. "Hey."

"Yes?"

"Thanks. You know, for bailing me out."

Shepard smiled. "Try not to make it a habit. But it was pretty funny if you think about it. You mooned the hanar moon. You should get a tattoo to commemorate that."

Jack grinned. "You know what? That sounds like a great idea."

x-x-x

In the wake of the Battle of the Citadel, several things happened on a galactic level.

First and foremost, the galactic community was finally forced to recognize how mature humanity was as a whole. They might be the newcomers, but they were adaptive and ambitious. In two decade's time, they had elbowed their way into the galactic economic system to the point that it would be unthinkable to conduct business without any human input. In the arms industry alone, several human-controlled corporations now occupied a third of the market share. From the geographic point of view, humanity had expanded out of their safe haven and settled in all corners of the galaxy. With or without Alliance support, entrepreneurial settlers ventured off to uncharted worlds and made the untamed frontiers their home.

Before they had a Council seat, humans were only good for merc gangs and private security companies. After the invasion, humans began to fill the ranks of C-Sec in great numbers.

Secondly, there was a not-so-secret arms race happening at a feverish pace after the invasion. The key word people kept slinging about was "geth innovation", although there was murmurs of hyper-advanced proto-AI, the word "Reaper" was strongly discouraged by the authority.

Jormungand Technology was one of many small corporations that cropped up after the invasion to ride the geth-inspired new tech bubble. But unlike many other small tech companies that winked out of existence as soon as their first product hit the shelf, this Illium based private tech firm took off to an absurd height instead. Their first product, an easily detachable heat sink called the thermal clip, was an instant hit to every arms manufacturers out there. With a few minor adjustment to their production line, the use of thermal clips became the gold standard that would fit every small arms available.

Their second product was an Omni-tool attachment call the Tech Armor. Inspired by the geth shield, savvy users could customize their suit to add a new module to support the extra energy requirement to significantly boost their shields. They also developed an app to facilitate easy use of flash-forged Omni-tool weapons. The new app was not as useful for the civilian populations, but they were a perfect fit to supplement the Alliance's updated ground combat standard that required proficiency in melee combat against multiple opponents.

Rumour had it that instead of going public, this new startup had begun negotiation to buy out the flagging Sirta Foundation that was on the verge of bankruptcy. Whether the acquisition would go through or not was still too early to tell, but it was clear Jormungand Technology intended to expand to other sectors beyond personal arms tech.

In other news, a rising batarian warlord, Charn Korragan of Camala, had begun an aggressive land grab campaign in the Bahak system with his mixed raced gang of mercs. This resulted in a galactic travel advisory that strongly discouraged tourists from visiting the system to avoid becoming collateral damage. Conflict between different factions was a common occurrence within the Hegemony and travel restriction in the region was to be expected, but overall, there was no significant trade disruption.

In entertainment news, _Blasto: A Game of Stingers_ , featuring the galaxy's first hanar Spectre, opened with 1.8 billion credits in the box office. The sequel, _Blasto: A Clash of Tentacles_ , was already in production.

Fifty-two days after the Battle of the Citadel, a small human colony of 786 people on the planet Ariel located in the Terminus systems, vanished without a trace. This did not make the news anywhere. It was widely believed that a slaver gang had attacked the colony. No one had claimed responsibility, and no investigation had taken place. It was unlikely any action would be taken any time soon.

x-x-x

Jack came back to the apartment after dinner and found Grey sitting in a corner of the room, holding her head in both hands. The ex-Alliance had blended into the shadow so completely, Jack wouldn't have seen her if she hadn't noticed the faint glow of the recon hood light.

"Hey, you alright?" Jack approached Grey cautiously. She had no intention of being thrown across the room again.

"No. But I'll deal." Grey replied tersely. Jack could tell from her voice just how tired and burnt out she sounded.

Thinking hard to herself, Jack eventually decided to do the decent thing and repay Grey's kindness from before. She sat down next to the ex-Alliance and asked a bit awkwardly, "want to talk about it?"

Grey raised her head from her hands and slowly turned toward Jack to stare at her for a long time. Just when Jack was about to give up, Grey spoke. "Yeah, if you don't mind."

"Alright. Shoot."

Grey lean back against the wall and began. "Let's say, you know bad things are about to happen to innocent people. For example, you overhead a gang of slavers planning to hit a list of colonies. But at the same time, you don't know when they are going to attack, or how you are going to stop them without an army. There just isn't enough to go on. And the only source of this information was some snippets of conversations you've overheard in a bar like a lifetime ago, hardly reliable. Now it comes back that over seven hundred people are dead because you didn't do anything."

"This doesn't sound like a 'what if' question."

Grey shook her head and dropped into her hands again. "No."

"Do you have a plan to stop them?" Jack asked, getting curious on what the woman was talking about.

"I can't. The timing… I don't have the resources."

"What kind of resources are you talking about? 'Cause if it's ship and crew, I know how to get them." Jack said with a bloodthirsty smile.

Grey chuckled. The sound made Jake feel like she had done the right thing trying to cheer her up. "I wish it were this simple, Jack. I need the best ship, and she is not ready. I need the best crew, but I can't muster them without the ship. There's other stuff I could do, but they are all secondary; long games that would take years to bear fruit. What I want to see is immediate results, even though intellectually I understand there are more important things I should focus on. But to sit on this information and do nothing? I feel utterly useless."

"Alright, so the ship you want is not ready. But it doesn't have to be this specific ship, does it? Sure, other ships might not be as good, but they are good enough to get the job done, right?"

"No, even this ship I want could barely do the job I need done. And she is… unique. Not even Commander Shepard's Normandy could stack up. That's the best stealth frigate the Alliance had."

Jack's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait a minute, you are talking about the dreadnought that shot down the Normandy. You want to take on the Collectors… Holy shit! Are you crazy?"

"Maybe a little."

Jack snorted at the reply. "Crazy works for me. So you need a stealth ship that's better than the Normandy to play the hero. Fuck, you're like, not just a girl scout. You're the bloody Queen of the Girl Scouts. I take it you know where to find another one of these, right? 'Cause I can't say I've seen a stealth ship before."

Grey nodded. "It's still being built and won't be ready for at least another six months. In the meantime, the Collectors are going to hit more colonies. I know which ones, but I don't know when or how to stop them."

"How do you know so much?"

Grey pulled up her Omni-tool and played a vid clip. It showed the Pirate Queen slaughtering an entire warehouse full of people with her biotics. Amongst which were the Blue Suns mercs, all the slaves they held in the warehouse, and a few monstrous beings that could only be the Collectors. The whole scene was a literal bloodbath. People were ripped to shreds like they were made of wet tissue paper. By the end of it, only a few Blue Suns mercs were intentionally spared before they were taken into custody by the Queen's subordinates. Jack had never seen another biotics remotely close to being as powerful as Aria T'Loak. "Fucking hell! No wonder she rules Omega." Jack grumbled, but couldn't hide the look of admiration on her face.

"Yeah. There's a reason asari matriarchs are so well respected. They live for over a thousand years and their biotics only grow stronger. Aria is as powerful as she is ruthless. Here, watch." Grey paused the vid at the frame where Aria picked up a data pad from a dead merc's hand, and zoomed in. It was a long list of specific genetic requirements, locations, and associated human census data. At the top of the list was Commander Shepard's name. "Kasumi installed a whole bunch of cameras to watch where the mercs stash their goods. This footage was taken two days after the Battle of the Citadel." Grey explained.

"And you still let Blue meet with the Cerberus bitch because...?"

"Because I need to know what other dirty secrets Cerberus knows and we don't. Also, it would be very difficult to explain where I got this information. I don't want to piss off Aria. You've seen what she was like when she found Cerberus spying on her. Operative Lawson almost pissed herself."

"Ok, so let me get this straight." Jack started, "you want to play the big goddamn hero and stop the Collectors from attacking the human colonies on that list, but without a top-of-the-line stealth ship, there's literally nothing you can do. That about sums it up?"

Grey nodded tiredly. "Yes, that sounds about right."

Jack rolled her eyes at the Boss Lady. "You need to think less like an Alliance soldier, dull stone."

"What do you mean?" Grey sounded genuinely puzzled.

"Duh! You are talking to a criminal. You need to think outside the rigid confines of the law. From what I understand, you need a good stealth ship before you can take on the Collectors. This special ship you are talking about couldn't possibly be the only stealth ship in existence. Didn't they say the Normandy was unique too? I bet you those sneaky bug eyes have a few stealth ships of their own. Why not just take one from them?"

Grey remained motionless, seemingly stunned by Jack's out-of-the-box suggestion. "You're saying I should steal a stealth ship from the STG?"

"Yeah."

"I don't even know if they have one."

"Of course they do. Salarians are sneaky bastards. They probably jizzed their pants when they saw the Normandy when it first came out. I would be totally shocked if they haven't tried to make their own stealth frigate since. And we're just stealing, right? It's not like we're hurting anybody." Jack conveniently did not mention that stealing a warship from the salarian government was essentially piracy of the highest order.

"We do have a master thief on our team." Grey was starting to sound excited. "I need to do some research. Gather intel. That is something I can do; I'm not just waiting for stuff to happen. This moves my schedule up by a few months, at least. I can..." She roared in laughter and slapped Jack's back in visible approval. "This is _good_ , Jack. You just gave me the best idea. Oh, he is going to have an aneurysm. I love it! I'll tell you later. Now I need to make a few calls. Muahahaha..."

Jack sat there watching the Boss Lady bounce into her quarters, cackling maniacally all the while. For a moment there, she wondered if she had made a huge mistake introducing Grey to the wonderful world of lawlessness. Stealing a warship from the STG would not be the same as hijacking a lightly secured space station that was meant to monitor cosmic weather events. But hey, at least Grey looked much happier now.

A week later, Grey brought home a young female quarian and two sets of commando leathers complete with full-faced breather helmets. "Tali. This is Jack, and this is Kasumi." She pointed at the thief as she decloaked. "When I'm in the commando leather, call me Red. Other times, call me Grey. Are we clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"So I gather we really are going to steal from the STG." Jack said.

"Yes. You were right about salarians being sneaky. They stole the Normandy's stealth drive design, made some improvements, and built a few experimental light frigates on the sly. My sources tell me they are planning to modify the stealth system to fit dreadnoughts eventually, greedy bastards." Grey explained. "One of the light frigates is currently drydocked at a shipyard on Senoquol to be refitted with more powerful guns. I don't care about the guns. I only need its stealth capability."

"Keelah! We are talking about stealing a ship from the STG. If my father finds out, he will execute me himself." Tali wrung her hands together tensely. "Are you sure? Sh… Sounds like a really bad idea."

"Relax, Tali. It's not like it's your first time stealing a ship." Grey said to the young quarian teasingly. "What your father doesn't know won't hurt him. We're going to return this ship once the new one is available in about six months. It's for a good cause. It'll work out."

Kasumi chirped up, "besides, where is your sense of adventure? Dodging the STG is old hat for me. Have I mentioned that a salarian Spectre has been trying to catch me for years? He never got close, and I'm sure he will find out I'm involved in this one, too. No one would ever suspect you. We want your help to make sure the stealth drive works just right. I'll handle the breaking and entering. The rest of the team is only here as the backup plan in case anything goes sideways."

"Ok, when you put it this way, I feel much better about our chances. It would be disastrous if we get caught." Tali said with a nervous laugh.

"Then we'll try our best to not get caught." Grey promised.

x-x-x

It was actually kind of amazing, Jack reflected.

To conceal their identity, Grey had brought a set of black commando gear for Jack to wear while she wore the set of dark red leather. Boss Lady walked out of her quarters clad in tight leather while moving like an asari commando. It was like watching her channel Dr. T'Soni. Her gait and her body language had completely changed from masculine military swagger to sensual asari sway. She had a hard time thinking of them as the same person.

"Jack, you'll need to follow Kasumi's instructions exactly. She is the lead of this heist. If everything goes according to plan, they wouldn't even know we were there until we are gone. Keep everything non-lethal, are we clear?" The ex-Alliance asked sternly.

"We're clear… Red." Jack replied. Listening to Boss Lady talk had confirmed that they were no doubt the same person regardless how she conducted herself.

They boarded an Athabasca class merchant freighter at Omega's main dock. The freighter rendezvous with an unmarked batarian cruiser at a hazard 1 moon in the middle of nowhere, and then they boarded the cruiser to rendezvous with a small Kowloon class freighter at a mining town in batarian space. They boarded the freighter and all but Kasumi climbed into a specially prepared crate.

"Trojan horse." The thief explained succinctly.

Jack had no idea what Kasumi was talking about, but since the Boss Lady was fine with it, she was fine with it too.

They didn't stay in the crate long. Kasumi must have done something to hack into the loading dock VI and override the control. The clamp drones grabbed the crate and set it on a conveyer belt to transport them into the cargo bay of the ship they were planning to steal. It was a breeze from there.

They crawled through the maintenance shaft to the life support module located on the crew deck and sabotaged the climate control to lower the interior temperature and reduce the oxygen concentration inside the vessel. The salarian technicians working inside the ship quickly passed out while the team were safe behind their fullbody hardsuits and breather masks. Apparently, salarians were more sensitive to their environment than humans were, something to do with being an amphibious species - Jack carefully filed this information away in case she ever needed to fuck with salarians again.

While Boss Lady and Jack were busy loading the unconscious technicians inside empty crates and shipping them out using the hacked clamp drones. Tali was checking the power and propulsion systems to make sure they could use the stealth frigate as their getaway ride.

"Eezo core stable, stealth drive on standby, all systems green. You were right, Sh... Seriously. The salarians stole the Normandy design. There is no doubt about it. They did make some impressive improvements to handle higher blue shift emissions, but the underlying structure of the IES stealth system is exactly the same. Now I don't feel bad at all." Tali complained with obvious annoyance in her tinny voice.

Jack briefly wondered why a young quarian would be so well-informed of the top secret Alliance ship design, but then she decided maybe it was best that she didn't know. Same reason as to why a thief would be so experienced in dodging Spectres, or why an ex-Alliance would be able to find the exact coordinates of an STG operated facility. Everyone had the right to keep their own secrets. Jack had a few ugly ones she never wished to share.

"Kasumi, how's your end?" Boss Lady asked while walking towards the stairs leading up to the bridge. Jack followed closely behind. This salarian built Skald class light frigate was tiny. The CIC and the bridge were compressed into one oval area on the upper deck, the crew deck was built to accommodate a small crew of ten, and the cargo deck only had enough space to fit two shuttles side by side. The back of the cargo deck led to the engine room. This frigate's oversized eezo core was so large, the engine room spanned the height of all three decks.

"Give me a minute to override the docking clamps, and then we're good to go." Kasumi answered through the communicator. Soon after, she decloaked on the bridge - Jack had no idea when she had boarded the ship - and sat down on the pilot seat. "Ready to take off, captain."

Boss Lady chuckled gleefully at the thief. "Excellent. Make it so."

x-x-x

A/N: It's interesting to write from Jack's PoV. I've always liked her as a character. The only reason I don't use her much in ME2 is because her loyalty power is useless to my preferred Vanguard build. Squad Cryo Ammo fits my play style so much better. Jormungand Technology (misspelled as Jormangunt in the first game) is a hidden manufacturer only accessible via console command.


	19. II-04: Burglary

Book II - Chapter 4: Burglary

After careful observation and deliberation, Vasir concluded that there was a war happening in the underworld. Something significant had happened between the Shadow Broker and Cerberus, something that would constitute an unforgivable offence, that had pushed the Broker to take drastic measures to undermine the pro-human terrorist group.

Before the triggering event, the two criminal organizations maintained a polite distance between each other, a professional courtesy, so to speak. But now, the Broker was actively sending out agents to gather dirt and infiltrate Cerberus's cells. It felt like the Hellhound was guarding something precious that the Broker was desperate to get their hands on. Vasir had no idea what kind of grudge the Broker was holding, but the cascading effect was that there was a fountain of blood being spilled up and down the Terminus systems.

It didn't bother Vasir. Blood of criminals was of no consequence to her. As long as the war didn't cross into Council space, she took no issue with it.

What _did_ bother her was the attitude of willful ignorance the Council was promoting.

Even after the leaked footage of the unknown dreadnought shooting down the Normandy, the most that the Council was willing to commit was sending a few additional STG units into the Terminus systems. "Batarian vessel," Valern had insisted. The bug-eyed lizard must've been high on something to spout such nonsense. Everyone had heard of the answer that would perfectly explain the existence of this overwhelmingly advanced dreadnought that looked nothing of batarian design, but no one was willing to entertain the thought that Commander Shepard could possibly have been right. If they did, it would mean that the Council had callously sent the only person who could have any idea how to deal with this threat to her death.

Was it a surprise that she had long ago decided to bypass the Council to get results? Getting meaningful support from the Council was about as difficult as squeezing credits from volus. She was selected to be a Spectre precisely because she was not above getting her hands dirty to get the job done. Petty bureaucracy was the reason why black ops were needed - just ask most C-Sec officers and they would say the same. It wasn't about accountability or transparency. It was about maintaining galactic peace without wasting time cutting through swathes of red tape. Her motto was, do her job first, ask forgiveness later. If they didn't like it, they could fire her.

They had not tried to in her long career.

And now there was this.

Vasir reached out and ripped off the short blond wig her captive was wearing. The caramel skinned Cerberus spy struggled futilely against the two burly C-Sec officers holding her down on her knees while glaring defiantly up at her.

This woman had come to her, claiming she would surrender Cerberus intel in exchange for her protection. Vasir had dealt with enough liars in her lifetime to spot one by their greasy aura - this particular agent had stank of insincerity. Wanting to see what this woman's game was, she pretended to take the bait and left the spy alone inside the Spectre Office with the console unguarded. Her instinct was proven correct. The moment the spy began to access restricted files, Vasir came back with two armed C-Sec officers and caught her redhanded. Espionage was grave enough an offence as it was, but the specific restricted file this spy was trying to steal…!

Vasir looked down at the woman dispassionately. "You are unlucky, Cerberus. Normally, I don't waste what I can use." She carelessly tossed aside the wig and closed her hand around the spy's throat. "But here is why I said you are unlucky. If it had been any other reason…"

The spy's eyes bulged as she fought to get away from Vasir's iron grip, but she was completely immobilized as the angry asari steadily increased the pressure around her neck to cut off the air and blood supply.

"I don't know why the Illusive Man would be so interested in a dead Spectre, and honestly, I'm not in the mood for deception." Vasir pulled her tattooed lips back as she spoke through clenched teeth in barely restrained fury. "Commander Shepard was a friend. You've picked the one target I care about, Cerberus scum. Oh no, I don't need you to lie to me. I can find out for myself. Embrace eternity."

Vasir cleaved into the spy's mind like an axe splitting a fire log. She was vaguely aware her victim arching back in absolute agony from the brutal mind rape, but the crushing force around the woman's throat stifled any sound trying to escape past her lips. With surgical accuracy, Vasir sliced deeply into the spy's consciousness to separate the facts from the tangled yarn of lies and half truths. What she found inside this woman's mind had her seething in impotent rage. "Is there nothing sacred to you people?" Vasir's voice was a hoarse whisper. Both of her hands were clasped around the spy's neck now, squeezing down without a shred of mercy.

She only loosened her grip after the spy had passed out from the choke hold.

"Keep her sedated in lock up. I'm not done with her yet."

The two human C-Sec hopped toi her command as if their boots were on fire. They were terrified, Vasir could tell. She didn't blame them one bit. Truth be told, Vasir was a little scared by herself as well. Violating another's mind was decidedly not her standard interrogation method.

Vasir blamed Shepard. Even being dead, she still managed to make her act crazy.

The information she dug out from within the Cerberus agent's mind would explain why there was a storm brewing in the Terminus systems. Although, it did make Vasir wonder why the Shadow Broker was looking for Shepard's body with such desperation.

Yes, desperation was the word to describe the ferocity and urgency the Broker had moved against Cerberus. The uncomfortable question now was, why would the Broker want to get their hands on Shepard's corpse so badly? If this were only about the money, then the bounty must have been an astronomical sum. There must be something else involved.

Still, the confirmation that Shepard's body was currently in Cerberus possession was making her blood boil in righteous indignation. Vasir had read the Commander's mission reports on Cerberus and their ghastly experiments. Simply speculating what those pro-human terrorists might do to further desecrate her deceased friend made her stomach twist in dread.

And there was no doubt. Shepard had been a friend, regardless whether Vasir liked to admit it or not. Why did that heroic idiot have to get herself killed? It was unacceptable.

Vasir would never forgive her.

"Vasir." Jondum Bau, a decorated salarian Spectre, greeted her outside the Spectre Office with a grim frown on his face.

"Bau." Vasir gave her colleague a polite nod. Recognizing the weary lines on his face, she asked, "rough day?"

Blinking slowly, Bau studied her posture for a moment before he answered, "yes, and I expect to hear the same answer from you if I ask you the same question."

Vasir nodded. Bau was always a clever one.

"Someone stole an experimental stealth frigate right from under STG watch. Valern had a fit." Bau supplied.

Vasir wrinkled her nose in sympathy. "Cerberus sent in a spy to steal Commander Shepard's classified files. I stopped them."

Bau tilted his head, silently asking her to elaborate.

Vasir sighed. "And I interrogated their agent and discovered that Cerberus has somehow obtained Shepard's body."

Bau winced at the information. "I'm truly sorry to hear that. I had hoped the Commander would have somehow survived the Normandy's destruction."

"Yeah, me too." Vasir shook her head wistfully. "I half expected her to pull off another impossible stunt and come out of this mess alive like always." She could easily recall the lopsided grin on Shepard's freckled face, her forest green eyes sparking with mischief as she sauntered into a room with a confident swagger, carefree and bursting with life. This memory briefly floated up to the forefront of her mind before the ugly image of Shepard's mutilated corpse flashed before her eyes and made her flinch. Vasir regretted sifting through the Cerberus bitch's memories; she would much prefer having never seen what was left of her friend.

The salarian Spectre didn't miss her momentary loss of composure. "You were with her on Virmire as well as in the Council Chamber during the invasion. What's your thoughts on this Reaper business?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure what to think. But I _know_ it's going to be worse than the rachni, krogan, and geth put together." Vasir closed her eyes and take a deep breath, citing what Shepard had said once. "Thessia will burn."

Bau sucked in a startled gasp at her ominous declaration. "Truely? You believe that?"

"Yes." Vasir answered simply.

Pausing for an inordinately long minute to consider what she had said, Bau finally spoke. "I see."

"See what?"

"Water, food, meds, fuel, eezo, and arms. Resources in general. Bunkers? No, costs are too high. Time consuming. Will need ships. When static defences fail, fall back to mobility." Bau inclined his head in a cordial bow. "Thank you for the confirmation, Spectre. Preparation must begin immediately. Good day."

Vasir silently watched him leave and muttered softly to herself. "You should be glad, Shepard. Somebody listened."

 _Too bad you won't be here to tell everyone, "I told you so," when the Reapers come._

Vasir closed her eyes, schooled her face to a cold mask of indifference, and carried on her work. No matter how distasteful the method was, no matter how long it was going to take, she planned to extract every last drop of Cerberus intel out of that spy.

x-x-x

Liara was certain she was being followed.

People said that Illium was just Omega with better shoes. Having spent a week living here, she had to say she agreed with this unflattering comparison. The place gave off the same oily vibe as Noveria did. Civilized savagery was just as ugly no matter how much finery it was dressed up in.

The ancient name of T'Soni was more powerful than Liara had ever cared to understand. Before coming to Illium, Liara had spent two solid weeks in Thessia sorting through the majority of the resources Benezia had accumulated in her thousand-year lifespan. She anticipated that it would take even longer to consolidate assets littered across the galaxy. It helped immensely that Benezia kept a meticulous record of everything worth keeping track of, but the transition would take time - longer than she had wanted.

The one saving grace was that putting all the scattered intel together to form a coherent picture was literally what Liara was trained to do as an archaeologist. At least she had gone to school for a skill she could apply to real world uses outside of academia. It was humbling that she had to repeatedly fall back on her training regarding estate management in her youngling days. Benezia casted a long shadow, and Liara was too willful to travel the safe path her overprotective mother had set out for her. In hindsight, it was painfully obvious that all the extra training her mother had made her sit through was to prepare Liara to take over her empire. Benezia wished to spare her daughter a lifetime of hardship, but Liara was too young and too proud to appreciate her mother's guidance.

How she wished she had been a better daughter.

Illium sat firmly within the Terminus systems, but there was no doubt the planet was under asari control. Even though this place was far away from her mother's seat of power, her influence could still be felt here. While Benezia rarely visited Illium, she owned properties, businesses, and had an army of informants on her payroll. Her mother might have left Aethyta over a hundred years ago, but she kept an obsessively close watch over her estranged bondmate. It seemed to Liara that Benezia still cared for Aethyta very much even though she was the one who walked out. Whether Aethyta was aware of this was a different issue.

The feeling of being watched intensified once she entered the upper level of Nos Astra's trading floor. Liara wondered if her watchers were bodyguards sent by her father, or by other parties. At the very least, she could not sense any malice. Either they meant her no harm, or they were very adapted at hiding their intentions.

There was one way to find out.

Strolling purposefully up the stairs located at the far end of the building, Liara walked through the automatic door and entered the famous Eternity lounge. Aethyta was mixing drinks at the bar when she arrived. As soon as their eyes locked, her father put down whatever she was working on and gestured her to follow.

They ended up in a private room in the VIP section of the lounge.

The way Aethyta looked at her made her feel like a youngling of twenty and a breath away from bursting into tears. Liara did not give into that impulse. She was a proud daughter of a T'Soni, and she would act like it.

"Father."

Aethyta did not care for formality. The matriarch stepped into her personal space and enveloped her in a tight hug. "I am so, so sorry."

Reluctantly, Liara returned the hug. "I, um," she swallowed the dry lump in her throat and squeezed her eyes shut. What could she possibly say to her father? She needed to keep herself together for the sake of the mission. Secrecy was the weapon that keep her enemies blind and her bondmate alive. She could scarcely afford to throw that away because she didn't want her father to feel bad. "I'll be fine." Liara said, wincing at the feeble reply she came up with.

Fortunately, Aethyta chose not to push. The matriarch pulled back to study Liara's face, frowning in obvious concern. "Of course you will. You are Nezzie's daughter; you are made of sterner stuff. But anyways… So you know. I guess it's too late to play dumb now."

"Ah, yes. Shepard told me." Liara's expression faltered briefly when her bondmate's name rolled over her tongue like a mouthful of ash. Aethyta must have noticed, but she did not comment on it. Liara was grateful of her discretion. "She said that you only stayed away because my mother broke your heart, not because you didn't want a pureblood daughter."

"Don't use that filthy word." Aethyta scowled fiercely with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "I never believe in half the crap the Matriarchy spew. Conventional wisdom, my ass. They are so afraid of letting the rest of the galaxy learn of the unsightly secret of asari genetic throwbacks, they would condemn innocent trueborns to look upon their own blood in shame. Nothing to contribute to asari gene pool, they say. Bunch of scally old hypocrites, I say."

Liara nodded in agreement.

"But you're not here to listen to me making excuses for skipping out on you for the last hundred years of your life. How can I help?"

Liara carefully considered her options. There was no need to inquire on her mother's status. If there had been any changes, Aethyta would have contacted her immediately. Bringing up Benezia's influence in Illium was also unwise. Clearly, Aethyta still had strong feelings towards her mother. It would be cruel to pick at old wounds. "I am being watched." She decided to cut to the chase.

"I know. I sent them." Aethyta grinned at her daughter with her chest puffed up, looking quite pleased with herself. "I'm not respectable like your mother, but I'm still a matriarch. I wouldn't call them disciples, but they are good kids. They listen when I ask them to do things for me. Illium is no Omega, but you bet I'm keeping an eye out for you."

Liara shook her head deliberately with a troubled frown. "Not just when I'm on Illium. Someone has been following me around since I went back to Thessia a while ago."

The sudden torrent of curses spilling out of Aethyta's mouth made her take an involuntary step back. "Damn them! If they dare to touch you, I'm gonna break every bone in their bodies! Nobody messes with my girl!" Her father clenched her fists tightly together as a faint wisp of biotics flickered across her white knuckles in an obvious display of anger.

"Aethyta? What's going on?"

Aethyta visibly got a hold of herself and sat down on the couch. Liara followed her lead and settled next to her. "Sorry, I don't mean to lose my temper." Her father took the time to take a calming breath before she continued. "I've heard rumours. Mind you, I've been away too long to exert any meaningful influence in the their dealings, but I still hear things. The Matriarchy is _concerned_ , Little Wing."

Liara stared at her father. "Are you suggesting the High Command has sent people to spy on me?"

"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm telling you that's exactly what those old crones have done. You are under surveillance, kiddo."

"Over what, exactly?" Liara was flabbergasted. "I'm just a maiden of no particular importance other than being Benezia's daughter. Many would go so far to say that I am a disappointment. I may have inherited her estate, but whatever political clout mother had wielded was gone the moment she was branded a traitor by the Council. What more could they possibly want from me?"

"They want your obedience, of course." Aethyta spat. "Whatever top secret Spectre business your bondmate had been up to had the Matriarchy spooked. Their opinions regarding Shepard are split right down in the middle. Half of them are glad the Commander is dead because it means this human is neutralized while the other half are disappointed because it means they could no longer use her for their own gain. Disgusting, if you ask me."

Liara's brows furrowed in confusion. "I don't understand. Shepard is… she is no longer a threat. What's the point of keeping _me_ in check?"

"Oh, honey, you've underestimated your own importance. You are _Benezia's daughter_. If you had inherited even a tenth of your mother's talent, they would need to keep an eye on you. On top of that, you've bonded wrists with Commander Shepard, the human Spectre who had the Matriarchy in a tizzy. You've been inside her head. True or not, people are going to assume you now possess all her secrets. Make no mistake - to the Matriarchy, you _are_ a threat."

"But I'm not!" Liara protested. "I have nothing against my own people, my own government. I am a faithful daughter of Thessia regardless of whom I've bonded wrists with. Besides, my interests lie in academia, not in politics. Shepard… No. _We_ stopped Saren and saved the Council. I was there every step of the way. I had to fight my own mother! If that wasn't enough to prove my loyalty, nothing else will. Let them watch me. They'll never find anything incriminating because I have nothing to hide."

 _Perhaps, not_ nothing _, strictly speaking._ A corner of Liara's mind admitted with some guilt. Her dealing with Cerberus was one time only, and it was done to sabotage their operation. On that, her conscious was clear. She was no traitor. Everything she had done since she went back to the asari homeworld was done in preparation of the coming war. Besides, what did the Matriarchy care what she did with Benezia's estate? It was not a crime to liquidate assets. She paid all her taxes.

"It doesn't matter. They've already decided that you are a threat, so they will continue to treat you as such." Pausing for a moment to make up her mind, Aethyta took Liara's hands into her own and asked tentatively, "would you do me a huge favour? It's a lot to ask, I know. I've been a no good father all your life, but please, hear me out. My other daughters are matrons; they don't keep me up at night. You are by far my youngest, and you are all I've left of Nezzie. Stay here on Illium, where I have resources to protect you. I must keep you safe."

This was not what Liara had expected from Aethyta when she first decided to come talk to her at all. She had been on her own since the tender age of fifty. The need for parental protection (and approval, for what that was worth) was one thing she had outgrown a long time ago. As a battle-hardened veteran, Liara hardly wished for a protector.

But putting her own preference aside, Liara agreed that Aethyta was right to be concerned. With the Matriarchy watching, Thessia was a far cry from a safe haven where she could move without fear of discovery. For all she knew, the Matriarchy might decide it would be easier to eliminate a potential threat in a more permanent manner before she could become a real problem. With the Broker's agents breathing down her neck at the same time, Liara desperately needed some elbow room to maneuver.

She might not want a protector, but she needed one. Liara would gladly cast aside her own pride and humbly accept her father's help if it meant she could better protect Shepard's secrets.

"I still need to travel extensively to get everything set up, but Illium is a good location for a base of operation. Alright, I will stay here for a while. At least, until I can persuade High Command to leave me alone."

Judging from the way Aethyta was beaming at her, her father seemed pleasantly surprised by Liara's amiable response. "Excellent. You have no idea how relieved that makes me. So, base of operation, eh? Does that mean you have a plan already?"

"Not exactly. I'm sure you already know what I've been up to since," Liara trailed off, letting the end of the sentence drop instead of saying _since the Normandy got shot down_ out loud. "I can't just pick up where I've left off and go back to my old life as if nothing has changed. The Reapers are coming. Nobody wants to believe it, but it's true. There must be something I can do. Mother has left me a generous estate. I intend to consolidate all available resources toward war preparation - she would have approved."

"Yeah, she would have. Nezzie would have been so proud of you."

Smiling tenderly at her sire, Liara replied, "I know. She told me, right before Shepard put her to sleep. That's yet another reason why we must stop the Reapers. So mother can be free."

The gruff matriarch's eyes were misty from unshed tears. Aethyta cleared her throat and looked away from Liara. "Right, I should introduce you to your bodyguards. Give me a minute, I'll call them in." She said in an obvious effort to change the topic.

Less than a minute later after Aethyta sent out the summon, two asari maidens clad in plain purple and white science uniforms reported in the private lounge. Liara recognized their faces. She had seem them around a few times on the trading floor, but she never paid them much attention. They sort of just blended into the background with all other asaris. The only reason why she even remembered seeing them was because she noticed they were carrying pistols in a sea of unarmed civilians.

"Liara, meet Aeian T'Goni and Neaira T'Lani. They are two of my best commandos."

They gave her a polite nod as Aethyta introduced them. Aeian was half a hand taller and had black facial tattoos along the ridges of her crests while Neair sported similar tattoos in white. Judging by the specific shade of blue of their skin, Liara easily recognized that they were both trueborns like her.

"Greetings, Dr. T'Soni. We've heard so much about you." Aeian spoke with a friendly demeanor and an open expression on her face. Her aura was bubbling with barely restrained giddiness tinged with undisguised curiosity. Neaira, on the other hand, exuded calmness and control that was decidedly un-maiden like. Liara had to pay extra attention to study the shorter asari's facial features to make sure she had not miss-aged her.

Liara gave her father an inquisitive look.

"Yeah, I told them you were mine when I assigned them to guard you." Aethyta scratched the back of her neck, looking quite embarrassed. "I, umm, may have bragged about you a tinsy bit. You know, I never get to talk about you. I couldn't help myself."

"Matriarch Aethyta spent about half an hour singing your praises at the briefing," Aeian helpfully supplied with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Liara felt her cheeks warm at the information. Perhaps parental approval still meant more to her than she realized. "I'm sure she exaggerated."

"I didn't. I just wanted them to know what kind of person they were protecting."

"Speaking of which, I am uncertain how this arrangement is going to work. Do they just follow me around all day like babysitters?"

"Goodness, no. I fully expect you to lose you mind had I arranged it to be that way." Aethyta barked out a laugh at Liara's wide-eyed expression.

Aeian further clarified, "we are well aware you are far from helpless, but you can't be on full alert at all time. We've got your back. We also serve as a visible deterrent to discourage unsavory elements from getting ideas."

"That sounds reasonable. I was worried this would be like my youngling years all over again." Liara wrinkled her nose. Overprotective was not strong enough a word to describe Benezia when it came to the only daughter the matriarch had given birth to in her twilight years. Growing up, Liara had had countless watchers, sitters, tutors, and guards surrounding her under Benezia's order. Even after she ran away from home, her mother still had people discreetly keeping tabs on her. It was stifling.

"If we do our jobs right, you wouldn't even know we are there." Aeian assured her. "Feel free to summon us anytime. We will stay close."

Neaira nodded gravely in agreement.

It was startling how stoic and severe Neaira was, Liara thought. She had yet to hear this maiden speak.

They spent the next hour discussing the finer details of this arrangement. Though the two commandos were young, they were professionals. Liara was impressed. With them guarding her back, perhaps she could be more aggressive when it came to hunting down the Broker's agents…

x-x-x

Crouching silently against a concrete wall from the vantage point of the upper level balcony, the hunter stared unblinkingly as their prey casually strolled through the thrumming crowd of Illium's trading floor.

Dr. T'Soni had many stalkers. This realization made the hunter let out an inaudible growl at the competition. There, a salarian dressed in a brown suit leaning against a trade terminal was recording the maiden in secret with his Omni-tool. On the other end of the trading floor, an asari in midnight blue dress was staring at her target with too much intent. Another spy.

The unknown asari walking next to the Prothean expert was her bodyguard, obviously. But the one that the hunter was most weary of was a commando of short stature who was scouting ahead to clear the scene. Another bodyguard, it seemed. Twice now, this commando almost spotted them. This impressed and frustrated the hunter all the same.

Watching from afar was no longer good enough. The hunter felt a flicker of excitement jolting through their veins as they envisioned themselves finally cornering their prize. First, they needed the maiden alone and oblivious. And then, they would strike.

The hunter looked through the scope of their sniper rifle and found the perfect spot to carry out the plan. Dr. T'Soni should feel safe enough to dismiss her bodyguards when she was alone in her penthouse suite. Now they just needed to do some prep work and make sure her bodyguards wouldn't spoil their fun. The maiden would fight them, but that was exactly how they wanted it. The predator delighted in the prospect of a struggle because it would make the game that much more _interesting_. They couldn't wait to hear what kind of noise the maiden would make when they finally close their teeth around her throat.

x-x-x

Liara bid her bodyguards goodnight before stepping into the elevator of the luxury apartment complex.

This modest penthouse suite she had chosen to be her primary residence for the time being was one of many properties Benezia had owned on Illium. There were others, more spacious apartments she could have used, but after fifty years of living out of a suitcase while moving from one remote dig site to another, a small flat with a view was more than she needed. Not being particularly attached to those properties, she promptly sold the rest. Liquid assets was what she needed to convert to raw resources. For all she knew, Illium could have been reduced to a giant crater once the Reapers came. With war looming in the horizon, holding real estate seemed like a doomed investment plan.

Having lived in this suite for a week now, most of her personal belongs were still packed in her suitcase. Liara wasn't sure when, but she had gotten used to the muted hum of the Normandy's engine, the cosyness of the ship's cabin, and the intimate warmth of her bondmate in her bed. In comparison, the apartment felt so cold and empty.

Liara felt so alone.

Sighing mournfully to herself, Liara crossed the living room and headed up the stairs to change into her pajama. As soon as she reached the first step, all the lights in the apartment went out.

"Huh?" The unexpected darkness blinded her. While only the most primitive part of her brain was intuitive enough to recognize the wrongness of the situation, the majority of Liara's cognitive process stalled. Instead of rolling behind cover immediately, Liara froze in place and blinked owlishly to recover her vision. That split second of indecision was all it took for her assailant to cover her mouth and pulled her into the hidden alcove behind the staircase.

Her biotics roared to life to defend herself even before her brain rebooted enough to realize what she was doing. With a muffled snarl, Liara's fingers dug into her attacker's arms and attempted to grapple the solid weight pushing up against her back.

"Shhh…"

Liara stilled at the sound that meant to ask for her silence. An achingly familiar biotic pulsed twice from the body behind her, signalling the person's identity.

 _Shepard._

Liara slowly turned around. During the short struggle, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness inside the room enough to be able to see the faint glow of her bondmate's burning green eyes. She took in a shallow breath to begin to speak, but Shepard put a finger over her lips and shook her head.

A spark of cyan danced across Shepard's finger and sank into Liara's skin. This sensation had her eyes rolling to the back of her head while arching into her bondmate's embrace. All of a sudden, she found herself burrowing deeply into Shepard's mind.

 _Your apartment is bugged. No idea who did this. I can't remove them without exposing myself._ Shepard thought to her regretfully. Liara could feel her frustration; Shepard had missed her terribly. Her original plan had been to surprise Liara and spend some quality time together, preferably naked and in each other's arms. But her plan was dashed to pieces when she found those bugs. Now, she was miserable and desperate.

Liara understood Shepard's frustration only too well. Clenching her teeth together to keep from making any noise, she nuzzled against the tender skin underneath her bondmate's ear and breathed in her lovely scent. Shepard smelt like bonfire on a sandy beach, like Thessia's ocean, like home. Liara clung to the woman she loved and felt her need clawing at the pit of her belly like a living thing.

 _I need you._

 _I've missed you._

With their thoughts merged together as one, Liara wasn't sure who started it. They clutched at each other's head and pressed their mouths together with the same desperation they both felt. Nipping, sucking, taking in as much as they could reach with their lips and teeth. When they finally broke for air, Liara felt herself being spun around with her back pressed against the wall, and heard her clothes rip. The unexpected sound sent a shockwave of arousal straight down her spine until it pooled between her legs.

Shepard's mouth latched onto her neck in the next frantic heartbeat. Liara tilted her head back and fisted her bondmate's hair with both hands when she felt a flash of teeth. A ragged gasp tore from her throat, and it took every shred of restraint to keep from crying out. Callus fingers eagerly roamed over exposed skin through torn fabric. Liara bit her own knuckles to silence herself when Shepard's hand dug under her waistband and thrust two fingers into her in one smooth motion.

Shepard was not gentle. Which was perfect because Liara didn't want her to be. The blistering pace Shepard had set right from the get go had Liara seeing stars behind closed eyelids. All too soon, Liara felt her body lock tight with too much tension. Before she was ready to let go, Shepard roughly shoved her over the edge with a hard press of her thumb. Liara came undone in a series of jerky, shuddering quakes while the meld dragged her bondmate over at the same time. She trembled uncontrollably from the rumbling vibrations at her throat as Shepard muffled her moans against sweat slick skin. Kneading the tight knots straining across her broad shoulders, Liara cooed and soothed her bondmate through their shared aftershocks. It took a long time for all that pent up tension to finally bleed out of her body.

A well of gratitude stirring inside Shepard's chest washed over Liara's consciousness in a wave of golden warmth. Her beloved had needed this, had needed her. Liara ran her fingers through Shepard's short hair, savoring the unique tactile sensation of this human feature. This gesture brought out an almost audible purr from her bondmate.

 _I am yours._ Liara showered Shepard's face with kisses.

 _As I am yours._ Shepard replied within the meld while basking contently under Liara's attention.

 _How long can you stay?_

' _Till morning._ Shepard's answer came with a wave of remorse.

 _Bed?_ Liara asked. Her legs were getting tired.

Shepard shook her head. _There is a camera above the main entrance. This alcove behind the staircase is its only blind spot. I created a power surge to knock out the signal when I grabbed you, but it was only temporary._

Liara looked at her with questions in her eyes. _How did you get in here in the first place?_

Shepard grinned. Her eyes glimmered under the faint starlight spilling into the apartment through the panorama windows. _Kasumi made me a dumbed down version of her cloaking device. I can't use it in battle, but this is perfect for sneaking into your apartment for a booty call._

 _A what call?_

 _A… Umm. Nevermind._ Shepard sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. _Not as comfy as the bed, but let me hold you?_

Liara nodded and joined her on the floor. The ceramic tiles were cold and hard comparing to the soft bed, but there was nowhere else she would rather be. Wrapped securely within her bondmate's arms, Liara wished time would just stop.

They reveled in each other's presence in complete silence, and under the cover of darkness, until the day began to break.

 _I should go._

Shepard pressed one last kiss on her lips before she stood up and stepped away. Liara watched her put on her gloves and a full-faced recon hood until every inch of her identity was wholly swallowed up by the nondescript black jumpsuit. She almost choked on the sight of her bondmate melting into the shadow until the very edge of her dark silhouette dissipated as fog in the morning light.

If it weren't for her torn clothes and the lingering scent of Shepard (fire, ocean, and home), Liara would have believed that last night was merely a fevered dream invented by her overactive imagination.

x-x-x

Ariel, Beaumonde, Jiangyin, Lilac, Santo, Whitefall, Cyrene, Fehl Prime, Ferris Fields, Freedom's Progress, Horizon, and New Canton. These were the twelve human colonies in the Terminus systems the Collectors were supposed to target.

Shepard had run into an unfortunate snag.

For the life of her, she couldn't recall exactly when the Collectors would attack which colony.

The last time around, she had been stumbling around in a perpetual state of shock and confusion in the months following her resurrection. Especially after her disastrous reunion with Liara on Illium, she was drowning in resentment and anger that borderlined on depression. Stuck in that negative mindset, Shepard could hardly think with a clear head. The Illusive Man took full advantage of her situation and yanked her around the galaxy to do his dirty work. He had her running ragged, always jumping from one crisis to the next, but never having the time to sit back and survey the scenes for herself.

While her attention was occupied on building a team to storm the Collector base, Cerberus was brandishing her heroic deeds as a shiny banner for their recruitment drive.

Well, no more of _that_ , that's for sure.

The Illusive Man had wanted to propel an anti-alien, anti-Alliance narrative by isolating the human colonists in the Terminus systems. This time, Shepard would make sure this devious tactic backfired on him.

Of course, it was easier said than done. The amount of planning and resources required to pull this off would be way more than she could commit to, considering everything else that was happening at the same time.

Or so she thought, before Jack talked her into going pirate and stealing from the STG. Having a stealth ship under her command had completely changed the game. Her original plan was to focus on gathering resources for the next six months while waiting for EDI to be fully integrated into the Normandy SR-2. After that, she would then contact Admiral Hackett and ask for a strike team to take over the Cerberus shipyard and confiscate the frigate. But now, she could skip ahead and begin the next phase of the operation.

Shepard had named the stolen ship _Enigma_. The Skald class stealth frigate was going to save hundreds of thousands of human lives, give the STG heartburn, and keep The Chain-smoking Man up at night.

For all his glaring flaws as a manipulative psychopathic egomaniac, nobody could accuse The Illusive Man of thinking too small. Since the very beginning, he had always had his cybernetic eyes firmly locked on the ultimate prize - dominance over the Reapers. Everything he had done was to steer towards that one goal. He didn't care about the colonists; they were red herring to distract Shepard. He used them as the perfect excuse to lure her into the Collector base and take out the big bads. What he wanted was the Collector's advanced tech - Reaper tech - so he could use it to take control of the Reapers.

Now that Shepard understood his primary motivation and his modus operandi, she could turn the table and use that knowledge to her advantage. In fact, she already had; she had allowed Cerberus agents to be stationed on the Normandy and steal her Alliance records. They all went through the mandatory evac drills and knew there was only one small two-men escape pod on the bridge that was meant for the pilot and the captain. She had convinced the world that she had gone down with the ship because she had convinced her own crewmates that there was no way for her to survive the crash.

It was ironic how a deceitful snake like him would place so much trust on the ill-gotten intel his operatives had gathered. Good luck trying to play the same head game twice with a time traveller.

Sadly, being a time traveller didn't help her a lick if she could not remember what had happened last time around.

Ariel was done. The Collectors had kidnapped the entire colony. Freedom's Progress, Horizon, Ferris Fields, New Canton, and Fehl Prime should still be safe until 2185, assuming the Collectors stuck to their schedule - which, was assuming a lot. There was absolutely no guarantee why they would. As far as Shepard could tell, there was no rhyme nor reason to how the Collectors picked their targets. Those colonies varied in size from a few hundred to tens of thousands, and their primary industry ranged from simple vertical farms to complex commercial shipping operations. They were no different from hundreds of other mostly human colonies out there in the Terminus systems. Any effort to make those colonies less attractive as a target to be harvested may very well result in different colonies to be targeted instead. It would be madness to try to save everyone.

It sickened her to admit this, but The Illusive Man's strategy of baiting the Collectors to target specific colonies was the most effective method she could think of thus far.

Still, it was a morally reprehensible way of waging war. Shepard understood that sometimes the ends could justify the means, but not this time. There had to be a way out. She just needed to think harder…

 _Wait._

She was getting this backwards. Why would the Collectors, a reclusive race that was rarely seen in the Terminus systems, have the most up-to-date intel on human census in remote colonies? They wouldn't. Someone was feeding them intel, and Shepard would bet real money on which party was responsible for this.

The Shadow Broker.

It made perfect sense. The Broker had eyes and ears everywhere. They had supplied the Collectors with a list of suitable colonies to choose from, ones that could be cut off from the grid to prevent distress calls from reaching help. After the abduction, they would encourage the fiction of mysterious mass disappearance without cause in the media. Cerberus might have been guilty of luring the Collectors into specific colonies as an effort to create a preemptive strike, the Shadow Broker was guilty of assisting the Collectors, period.

"Kasumi!" Shepard jumped up from the spot on the CIC floor she had been meditating on and walked briskly towards the bridge.

"Yes?" The thief peered back over her shoulder from the pilot's seat.

"The tracer program you've planted on Tazzik and Vasir's Omni-tool. Have you gotten any results yet?" Shepard asked, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Not a whole lot, but let me check." Kasumi pulled up her Omni-tool and began typing away. A minute later, she let out a whoop of triumph. "Jackpot! Vasir contacted the Broker recently. It was a pretty lengthy call that jumped several major comm buoys. The result is a good match to what I got off of Tazzik and Liara. I can place the Broker's location somewhere in the Hourglass Nebula, but that's the best I can do. You need a specialist to further narrow down the location to a system, at least."

"That won't be a problem. Turn the ship around. I need to go back to Illium."

Kasumi's tattooed lips curved up into a coy smile. "Oh, I see. So that's why you asked for a cloaking device and disappeared for a whole day."

Shepard felt her face warm at the implication. "It's not like that. Liara has Benezia's contacts. She would know where to find a capable charting specialist to triangulate the Broker's location."

"Of course. What else would I be implying? Evidently, you needed it for _breaking and entering_."

Shepard coughed. "Just get us there."

"Aye, aye." Kasumi gave her a playful salute. "ETA five hours. And by the way, you might want to look into getting a professional helmsman to pilot this ship. I can do in a pinch, but you don't want my flying this baby in a firefight."

"Don't worry, I'm working on it. Can't have my best procurement specialist getting stuck behind the wheel the whole time." Shepard replied, a plan already in mind.

x-x-x

Vasir passed through the flashing holo barrier and entered the restricted area with her expression frozen in a thunderous scowl. The team of C-Sec officers on the scene looked up briefly to acknowledge the Spectre's presence before going back to their work. Clearly, everyone was put on edge by what had happened.

"Spectre Vasir! Apologies, ma'am, we contacted you as soon as…" The ranking asari C-Sec officer began, only to be waved off with an annoyed flick of her hand.

"I don't want to hear your excuses. Where is the detainee in Block A-6?"

"S-she is gone, Spectre. Escaped with whoever did all this." The officer gestured at the bloody carnage around them. All the bodies had been carried away after the crime scene was meticulously recorded by several vid drones, but there were still copious amount of bloodstains splattered all over the hallway. Some of the arterial sprays had even reached the ceiling, leaving colourful ribbons of blue, purple, and red behind.

Someone had subserved the security system of the C-Sec detention centre, broke out the Cerberus agent Vasir had been interrogating, and slaughtered fifteen C-Sec officers on their way out. Vasir didn't have to investigate to come up with the name of the guilty party.

 _Cerberus._

"Security footage?"

"Erased. They hacked into our system and fried all the cameras before the firewall kicked in."

Vasir clicked her tongue. "Somebody must have seen something."

"There were no survivors, ma'am." The officer replied slowly. There was anger simmering in her eyes; the same sense of outrage every C-Sec officers must have felt when they discovered their own people were butchered like animals.

Vasir took in a deep breath. She walked off to survey the scene and noted all the charred impact marks marring the walls. "Standard rounds." She puzzled out loud, not liking the pictures she was getting from all the clues left behind.

Who in their right mind would waltz into a C-Sec maximum security detention centre armed only with standard ammo? Nobody, that's who. The bullet marks on the walls were most likely made by C-Sec when they tried to shoot the intruders. The weapon of choice nowadays were firearms, explosives, and biotics. The unique directional blood splatters suggested that a bladed weapon was used instead of biotics. Warp and pull combo normally resulted in a far messier crime scene with lots of torn flesh and liquefied organs.

What kind of maniac chose to break into a C-Sec stronghold with nothing but a sword? It was hard to imagine anyone who could cause this much damage with such a primitive weapon.

More importantly, how would Cerberus know where they had detained their captured agent?

"The bodies. Where are they now?" Vasir asked.

"They are at the morgue of Huerta Memorial."

"Double the guards and lock it down. Spectre authority. No one, not even C-Sec, is allowed near the bodies until I say otherwise. Are we clear?"

The asari officer looked surprised by the request, but she quickly got a hold of herself and complied. "Yes, ma'am. Right away."

Vasir sincerely hoped she had overreacted, because the implication of an inside job had the potential to start a political shitstorm. By infiltrating C-Sec, Cerberus had demonstrated that it was a terrible mistake to entrust humanity with the privilege to be included in the governing of Council matters. All of Shepard's hard work would have meant nothing - and Vasir refused to let an extreme few trivialize her friend's sacrifice.

Cerberus was a danger to the stability of galactic peace. They were an enemy to the Council, and by making a mockery of Commander Shepard's legacy, by _defiling her friend's body_ , they had made it personal.

 _Heads will roll._

x-x-x

A/N: For those who don't remember, Aeian T'Goni was the PTSD soldier in Huerta Memorial in ME3, and Neaira was her squadmate with a medical condition.


	20. II-05: Assassination

Book II - Chapter 5: Assassination

Shepard grinned wickedly underneath her helmet at the deer-in-the-headlight expression on Liara's face. From the way her knees locked, she could tell Liara wanted nothing more than to launch herself across the floor and tackle her in a bone-crushing embrace.

"Dr. T'Soni." Shepard gave her bondmate an aloof yet polite nod. Her voice warbled slightly after being process by the scrambler built into the helmet. Evidently, her distorted voice served as a good enough reminder to Liara that the maiden visibly calmed down after taking in a deep breath.

"Grey. Jack." Liara greeted. Her commando bodyguards relaxed slightly but largely stayed vigilant even after her acknowledgement. Shepard supposed Jack's elaborate tattoos and her own eccentric choice of armor did not make them seem like the most reputable sort. Glancing around at the bustling Nos Astra trading floor, Liara asked, "shall we take this to a more private setting?"

Before Shepard could open her mouth, the taller asari bodyguard cut in. "The Eternity lounge has private meeting rooms. I'm sure Matriarch Aethyta wouldn't mind."

The unspoken part was that the meeting would take place on their own turf, so they could better protect Liara if the two oddly dressed strangers had meant her harm. Shepard approved of her caution.

"What, it's not like we're gonna do anything to Blue. Chillax, sugar tits." Jack's exaggerated eye roll and crude language had the opposite effect on the two commandos. The short asari looked exceptionally offended while the tall one just shook her head in disgust.

"Play nice. I can leave you with Kasumi if you plan on being difficult." Shepard said.

Jack gave her a dirty look. "Alright, alright. It's not my fault they can taste the broom handles up their asses."

Shepard shook her head in exasperation.

The bodyguards must have called ahead because Shepard could feel several pairs of eyes fixed on their direction as soon as they walked into the lounge. Aethyta was standing behind the bar fixing drinks as per usual, but it was obvious that her heart wasn't into it. _Great._ The ill-tempered matriarch probably heard that her baby girl was accosted on the streets by a pair of scruffy looking human mercs and immediately jumped to the worst conclusion. Shepard suspected that if she were so much as to look at Liara funny, a full squad of commandos would descend on her and warp her head to a pulpy mess.

It really was unfair how Aethyta got to pull the protective father routine _after_ they had bonded wrists.

"Upstairs. Last room to your left." Aethyta's gruff voice sounded several degrees colder than she remembered.

"I'll be fine. They were my bodyguards on Omega." Liara tried to reassure her father, but the result was less than stellar. Aethyta remained unimpressed.

Liara's commando bodyguards followed them into the meeting room and stood guard on either sides of their charge. Shepard would bet real money that the room was being monitored; Aethyta herself was probably watching the vid feed while getting ready to storm in at a moment's notice.

"I didn't think I would see you again so soon." Liara spoke softly, a slight wrinkle creasing her tattooed eyebrows as she attempted to puzzle out the purpose of this unscheduled meeting on her own.

She looked absolutely adorable, Shepard thought.

"I've come across critical information for you, Dr. T'Soni." Shepard said, and slowly began to remove her right gauntlet.

The two commandos exchanged a bewildered look with each other as she held up her bare hand and offered it to Liara.

For asaris, only families and very close friends would link minds as a mean to share information. Both parties must have trust in each other to respect boundaries. This was true even more so for non-asari who were not blessed with the same mental fortitude and would oftentimes enter into a meld without proper barriers in place. When emerged in a meld, it was impossible to disguise one's intention. Any ill will would be detected immediately.

Liara took her hand without hesitation. Her sky blue eyes flashed a solid obsidian the next instance.

 _Omega. Security footage of Aria killing Collectors and Blue Suns mercs alike. Data pad containing a list of human colonies and census information. The Shadow Broker's call to Liara after giving the body to Cerberus. A burly salarian dressed in a white hardsuit with the Broker's mark stamped across his chest. Vasir. STG stealth frigate. Hacked communication coordinates. All three were a perfect match. Hourglass Nebula. Require further triangulation._

 _Operation Cuckoo is a go._

"By the Goddess!" Liara exclaimed with barely restrained excitement. An elated grin stretched across her freckled cheeks; with the meld still in effect, Liara was probably mirroring the same expression on her own face.

Shepard chuckled as she pulled her hand back to put the gauntlet back on. "Know anybody with the skill to narrow it down?"

"Yes, I think I know just the person for the job. I have a contact at Baria Frontiers whom I have contracted to analyse fragmented Prothean navigation data recovered from Ilos." Liara paused for a moment, and her eyes almost pop out of her skull when she fully processed the information Shepard had just given her. "That ship… Goddess! Are you insane?!"

Shepard put her hands up to forestall an epic chew out. "No one got hurt. It was necessary."

"I'm sure it was necessary, but it was also reckless!" Liara folded her arms across her chest and leaned her weight on one foot; she looked every inch the annoyed bondmate when confronted by her spouse's more disagreeable exploits. "They will hunt you down to the end of the galaxy. Salarians are _not_ the forgiving type. Ask the last people who crossed them - their entire species was neutered."

"I know, I know. But I do have a plan. It'll all work out."

Liara gave her a _look_.

Not so subtly, Jack mimicked the motion of cracking a whip; Shepard pretended not to see it.

"In any case," she took out an OSD from her suit compartment and handed it to Liara. "Here is a copy of the raw data. Be careful; people had killed for less." Her gaze flittered towards the two commandos briefly, and cautioned, "keep this under wraps. I fully expect them to send assassins after you if they catch wind of this."

"I understand. I will be careful." Liara promised solemnly. She slotted the OSD into her Omni-tool and activated the vid comm. A few rings later, a salarian in a green suit showed up on the holo screen. "Greetings, Sekat."

"Greetings, Dr. T'Soni." Sekat replied in a chipper voice. "Excellent timing. I was just going to send you the results on Pylos Nebula. The Prothean data was most fascinating."

"Good work, Sekat. I have another confidential assignment for you - high priority. I'll gladly pay double the rate. I've tracked down some peculiar comm signals through several relays. I'm hoping you will be able to narrow down the origin of this transmission to a system, at least."

Sekat blinked rapidly a few times, clearly surprised by the request. "Comm signals? Sure, I'll take a look."

Liara sent the data over.

After studying the data for a minute, Sekat scratched his chin and asked with some hesitation, "yes, I can definitely triangulate the originating source to a system, a planet, even. But Dr. T'Soni, this is _highly_ irregular. The data you've provided looks a lot like the result of wiretapping. I'm not going to be in trouble over this, am I?"

Liara's soft blue eyes went cold and flinty in an instant. The expression gave Shepard a very acute sensation of deja vu back to the time when Liara threatened to flay someone alive with her mind. She had to admit, it was scary and sexy as hell at the same time. "Keep quiet about this, and no harm shall come to you."

In other words, you blab, you die.

Evidently, Sekat got the message loud and clear. The poor salarian blanched at the sight of Liara channeling Lady Benezia. "I understand. This shouldn't take long. Come see me in my office at Dracon Trade Center tomorrow evening at 1800. I'll have the result ready for you."

"Very well. I will see you tomorrow." Liara disconnected the call.

"Maybe it's a good idea to send someone to watch over him. You do want him to stay alive until the job is finished," Shepard suggested. She couldn't quite recall whether the Shadow Broker sent assassins after the salarian or not the last time around. Liara was pretty vague on how she took down the previous Broker; she only mentioned that she had personally led dozens of mercenaries and raided the Broker's ship. By the time the dust settled, she was the only one who had survived. An important friend named Feron was killed as well.

Shepard remembered being insanely jealous of this _important friend_ and being secretly glad about his demise - not a highlight of her best moment, that. Of course, she felt downright _shitty_ after learning that Feron was instrumental in keeping her body from Collector hands, that the drell was tortured for two long years for defying the yagh, and that there was absolutely nothing going on between him and Liara.

"That would be prudent. I'll arrange something." Liara agreed. "What about you? What's your plan?"

"I'll stick around. There are some upgrades I want to pick up on the trading floor. Jack here," Shepard pointed back at the heavily tattooed woman with a jab of her thumb, "made me promise to let her off the ship for fresh air and booze. I'll come with you to see Sekat tomorrow, and we'll go from there."

Liara nodded. "Alright. I'll see you soon. I have my own preparations to make."

Shepard lifted her eyebrows at that comment, but refrained from asking for more details.

If everything went according to plan, she would know soon enough.

x-x-x

It was raining outside.

Taking a sip of lukewarm coffee from her mug, Liara grimaced at the awful taste before promptly shifting her focus back to the data pad she had been pouring over for the past few hours.

From what she could see, the Shadow Broker had been keeping a careful eye on her mother long before her rise to prominence as a revered teacher of religion and philosophy. A few of Benezia's oldest associates had been known agents working for the Broker. _Judging by the long lifespan, could this mean that the Broker is an asari or a krogan? Possibly, though not necessarily._ Liara once again dismissed the line of thought. The Shadow Broker could be a group of unrelated people working together as a team. It could be an inherited title that was passed down through a specific bloodline, or through an apprenticeship. It could be anything, really.

Feeling a little cross eyed from hours of reading (comparing old records, looking up names, decoding data, digging out secrets - aka applied archaeology), Liara left the data pad on her bed and stood up for a stretch. Her eyes drew towards the nightstand and rested on the shiny new toy she had acquired not a week ago. A salarian researcher on Benezia's payroll had recently been hired by the Alliance as a consultant for small arms development. After some prompting, he had sent over the blueprint for a prototype heavy pistol - M-5 Phalanx, an upgraded version of the common M-3 Predator - as a repayment for favours rendered to his head of the family a couple generations back. Salarians might have short lives, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you ask) their recording-keeping was forever.

The Phalanx not only packed a serious punch, its laser sight was a feature Liara really appreciated; she had been pleasantly surprised by how well it worked when she had tested out the freshly assembled weapon at the shooting range that morning. She was so impressed, she planned to replicate a few more copies to give to Shepard to play with.

But before Liara's mind had the chance to drift too far towards the mundane, something interrupted her idle daydream and rudely dragged her back to reality.

 _Pop… Crack!_

Liara grabbed the pistol from the nightstand and rolled behind the durasteel pillar next to her bed at the distinct sound of high caliber bullets hitting the bulletproof glass. The kinetic barrier she had installed around the panorama windows had saved her life. She had forked out the credits to ensure not even a modified anti-armor round could penetrate the defense around her apartment.

Her Omni-tool flashed red and buzzed urgently around her wrist. This specific frequency was set to her bodyguards. "Dr. T'Soni! Are you alright? I'm coming over." Aeian sounded slightly out of breath; she must have been running.

"I'm unharmed."

"Stay behind cover until I get there. Neaira is going after the sniper. Don't leave the building. There could be more of them out there."

"Give me the status on Sekat." Liara demanded. Their meeting was supposed to be in another three hours. She sincerely hoped he had not been killed before giving her the location of the Shadow Broker's lair.

"The unit that's been watching him hasn't reported anything wrong yet."

Liara let out a sigh of relief.

"... fast. I can't… Argh!"

Liara gripped the pistol in her hand. "Aeian? Where are you?" She spoke into her comm device but received no response. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest; she felt the familiar sensation of adrenaline pumping through her veins like liquid fire. It was as if she were running mission with Shepard again.

Her Omni-tool buzzed. "Dr. T'Soni, this is Neaira. The sniper got away! Is Aeian with you?"

"No, she isn't. I've lost contact with her."

"Leave the building immediately!" Neaira was shouting now. "It's a trap! I've been led away! The sniper must have gotten Aeian. Run!"

Liara lept over the ledge of the upper level balcony and bolted for the door.

"Oh, I don't think so."

A heavily armored asari stood in the middle of the hallway and blocked Liara's path as she reached the threshold. The assassin's body was shrouded in a cloak of thrumming biotic barrier that was so intense, so _angry_ , it was like staring into the sun.

Liara recognized her immediately.

"Vasir."

Liara leveled her pistol at the Spectre, her own biotics wrapped tightly around herself in a protective shell. "The Shadow Broker sent you to kill me."

"They did." She didn't even try to deny it. Slowly, menacingly, Vasir advanced towards Liara while keeping her assault rifle loosely held to her side with one hand. It was insulting how she didn't regard Liara as a serious threat even while having a laser target pointed at her chest.

Vasir was right though. A few shots from her pistol won't put much of a dent in her impressive biotic barrier and they both knew it.

Liara scowled at the older asari as she backed into the apartment to maintain the distance between them. "The Broker sent you as their attack varren. You're a Spectre! This is low. Traitor!"

"Traitor?" Vasir visibly bristled. " _You_ of all people calling _me_ a traitor? How dare you!"

Faster than she could blink, Liara found herself smashed into the ground, hard. Evidently, the other asari had charged in and disarmed her with one smack, lifted her up in the air, and slammed her down all before she could even _dream_ of defending herself. Her barrier wobbled feebly but it held. _Is this what it's like, facing off against a vanguard? I need to stand up…_

Vasir lifted her up again and threw her across the living room. Liara collided painfully with a wall and crumbled on the floor. What little was left of her barrier was now completely shattered.

 _Stand up!_ Liara internally screamed at herself.

Vasir charged at her again. Liara barely had enough time to snap off a singularity to drag the leather couch over as a shield while rolling away from the attack. She dove at the fallen pistol, but she was too slow. A gauntlet hand snatched the collar of her armored coat, and a split second later, Liara was bashed into the wall again. This time, she ended up with Vasir's hands closed around her throat, her feet a half foot off the ground. A mist of purple erupted at the edge of her vision. _This is bad._ Liara's fingers dug into the arms that immobilized her, clawing as hard as she could.

 _I'm going to die._

Vasir's face was only inches away. "You work for Cerberus, a pro-human terrorist group! You sold them your own bondmate's body! Do you have any idea what those sick bastards are doing to her corpse? _You_ are the traitor here! How dare _you_!" Somehow, the expression on Vasir's face was at the same time terrifying and tortured. Despite the lack of oxygen, in a small corner of her brain, Liara couldn't help but find herself wondering whether Vasir was in love with her bondmate.

But before she could ruminate on the thought for any longer, the unyielding pressure at her throat tightened further, causing a series of sputtering chokes to escape from her mouth. She struggled futilely against the vise-like grip, but Vasir did not budge.

The Spectre was almost foaming at the mouth as she shouted at her. She looked angry enough to snap her neck any moment now. "I refused! When the Broker asked me to kill you, I told them no because you are her bondmate. And then they told me what you've done. _How could you?!_ What did Cerberus promise you, huh? Credits? Power? Answer me, you pureblood bitch!"

The hands that were cutting off her air supply loosened a fraction to allow her to speak. Seizing the rare opportunity, Liara let out a painful gasp and said the only thing that could possibly sway Vasir to spare her life. "Shepard!"

" _What?_ " Vasir's grip loosened a little more from shock.

"They promised me Shepard." Liara choked out.

Vasir dropped her and let her sag on the floor to take in much needed air. "Explain!" She spat.

Liara didn't need to explain anything to Vasir. The subject matter herself barrelled into the apartment in a streak of biotic fury and slammed into the Broker agent, knocking her away from Liara.

"Goddamn it, Vasir, you're a hot headed moron!" Shepard screamed at her.

"What?!" Vasir picked herself up and squinted at the newcomer like she could not believe her eyes. Even with every inch of her skin covered by the hardsuit, Shepard's presence was unmistakable. Her bondmate was so furious, her volatile aura had leaked out of the containment of her hardsuit in waves of writhing tendrils. "But! You…!"

"Shut up!" Shepard barked sharply. "This apartment is bugged."

The expression on Vasir's face suggested that she wanted to tell Shepard to get fucked by a thresher maw, but ultimately, she clicked her teeth together and settled for glaring daggers at them instead.

"Leave. Stay out of this." Shepard ordered. Her tone left no room for negotiation.

Vasir snarled at the fellow Spectre. "I am _sorely_ tempted to rip your head off with my bare hands right now. You want me to shut up and walk away? Fine. But you _owe_ me. There had better be a _fucking_ good reason for everything!"

"That's more than fair." Shepard pointed at the door. "Go. I don't have time for this. You'll hear from me soon."

Vasir gave them one last dirty look before slinking away while cradling her side gingerly. Shepard must have cracked a rib or two in her previous attack.

As soon as Vasir left, Shepard was kneeling next to Liara, scanning for injuries. Her bondmate hissed like a territorial feline when she saw the vivid handprints around her throat. "I'm sorry. I should've been here sooner. This is going to bruise. I'm giving you a dose of medi-gel to reduce the swelling. The scan looks clean enough… no bone damage. If she had..." Her voice dropped off abruptly just as her body began to shake in suppressed rage.

"I'll be fine." Liara put a hand on Shepard's forearm in a comforting gesture. "Vasir… If she had really wanted to kill me, I would have been dead already."

It was a bitter wakeup call, to be defeated so handily while facing off against another skilled biotics in a one-on-one duel. The brief and pathetically one-sided exchange truly highlighted how much further Liara still had to go. She might have been a competent biotics, but all her battlefield experience was gained while under Shepard's command - meaning she did not know what to do when thrown in a situation that required split-second situational analysis to make life-or-death decisions. This was unacceptable. If she ever wished to stand next to her bondmate as an equal, she needed to be able to stand on her own instead of leaning on other people for support.

Shepard's chest rumbled in a deep, almost inaudible growl, but she kept her silence. Unhappy as she was, it seemed she had also noticed the inconsistency. Vasir might've been an excellent Spectre, but she was at best a middling marksman. The whole reason why she bothered to snipe Liara at her apartment was to draw away her bodyguards. Vasir had wanted to capture and interrogate Liara, not just to kill her. The Shadow Broker had ordered the assassination, but Vasir was here on her own agenda.

"Sekat! The Broker must have sent people after him, too!"

"I already sent Jack ahead." Shepard pulled her up by her arm and gestured at the door. "Let's hurry."

"Dr. T'Soni!" Neaira rushed into the apartment with her pistol raised, her normally calm aura rippling with distress. "Thank the Goddess! Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me. We need to get to Saket before the Broker's agents do." Liara paused for a brief moment, and asked, "where is Aeian?"

Neaira's lips pressed into a thin frown. "Downstairs. Concussion. I've requested backup. She'll live."

They raced down the hallway, endured the long elevator ride in tense silence, passed by the unconscious Aeian sprawling on the lobby floor, and sprang towards the empty cab parked in front of the apartment complex.

Shepard was faster. By the time Liara realized her mistake, Shepard already took the pilot seat.

"Initiating manual override. Disengaging speed cap. Warning: as per the Nos Astra Traffic Bureau directive 432.3 section a-1, using the autopilot function is strongly recommended." The skycar's VI spoke in a polite, feminine voice.

Liara shot her bondmate a terrified glare as she deftly clipped the safety belt into place and grabbed on for dear life.

Shepard swiped the lever up and stepped on the accelerator. The cab vertically lifted off the ground like a rocket, suspended in midair for a split second, before charging forward like a deranged krogan in full bloodrage. Even with the inertia dampener activated, Liara could feel all the blood rushing towards her head when Shepard turned the cab sideways to take a shortcut between two buildings instead of following the normal traffic.

"Truck!" Liara yelled.

"I see it." Shepard said absentmindedly, jerking the wheel with her left hand while pushing down on the altitude lever. The cab rolled in a half spin and dodged under the truck before pulling up from the opposite side of the vehicle.

Liara was not pleased by the stunt. Neither was the skycar VI. "Warning: as per the Nos Astra Traffic Bureau directive 437.9 section c-8: deviating from established traffic lanes is strongly discouraged. Authorised routes are highlighted in green on the display with speed limits clearly labelled. Would you like to enable intelligent cruise control?"

"No. Plot the shortest route to Dracon Trade Center." Shepard barked.

At her command, a yellow zigzagging overlay appeared over the holo display of the city map. Of course, Shepard chose not to follow the VI's instructions. Instead, she took shortcuts whenever she could.

"Truck!" Liara shouted again when she saw the oncoming traffic when the cab emerged from a construction zone.

"Again?" Liara could hear the frown in Shepard's voice. This time, her infuriating bondmate pushed the lever up and stepped on the accelerator. The cab lept over the truck and dove into oncoming traffic. Shepard spun the wheel, pushed down the lever, and activated the emergency brake. The result was a dead stop-and-drop where the cab rotated in tight circles until she pulled up the lever and engaged full thruster to avoid the mass of vehicles coming at them. The much abused cab groaned under the strain of the sudden change in vector.

"Goddess!" Neaira screamed in the backseat.

"You're doing that on purpose!" Liara accused. Her stomach rolled in distress at the rough treatment.

"I did no such thing!" Shepard argued.

"How did you pass your road test if you drive like a blind pyjak?!"

"Technically…"

Neaira interrupted them with an uncharacteristic shriek. "Eyes front! Look where you're going!"

"Dracon Trade Centre is right there… Fuck!" Shepard cursed loudly as she whipped the car around to a screeching halt. A shockwave slammed into the vehicle like a tsunami, nearly toppled the cab to its side.

Liara looked up at the fire and smoke pouring out of the building in disbelief when she realized what had happened: the Shadow Broker's agents had bombed an entire building filled with innocent civilians in order to kill one target!

Static noises of incomplete transmission crackled through Neaira's communicator in broken fragments. "... unable… in the… secured… salarian..."

Liara perked up at the mention of Sekat.

The VI had one last thing to say. "Warning: as per the Nos Astra Traffic Bureau directive 421.2 section a-4: parking in a no parking zone is strictly prohibited. A fine of…"

"Goddammit, just shut up, VI! Jack! Do you copy?" Shepard asked urgently, but received no response. She punched the steering wheel in frustration before jumping out of the cab as soon as it touched the ground. Liara scrambled to follow her lead while Neaira tried to hold her back.

"Dr. T'Soni, this is dangerous..."

"No. I'm going in. You can watch my back if you want to keep me safe." Liara said sternly.

Neaira relented with a disapproving frown. "Very well."

"Widget lost Jack's signal. Her Omni-tool is either damaged, or disabled." Shepard pull out the blade strapped to her back and took a deep breath. She looked over her shoulder and stated calmly, even though Liara knew she was feeling anything but. "Priority is to recover Sekat's data. Expect armed Broker agents. We're going in hard, so keep up."

At that, Shepard took off in a mad dash, against a stream of the walking wounded stumbling out of the building. Already prepared for this, Liara matched her pace and stayed a few steps behind while scanning her surrounding, just like she was trained to do from her time running missions with Shepard's Normandy crew.

Inside the lobby, the air was thick with smoke and blood. A score of civilians lay dead on the ground. Most casualties showed trauma from the explosion, but some sported bullet wounds on their bodies. Liara fumed with righteous indignation; Broker agents had planted explosives in the building not just to assassinate one salarian, but to muddy the water so the authority could not figure out their motive. This sledgehammer approach was crude but effective. While Illium's emergency response was swamped with numerous injured civilians, curiously, law enforcement was nowhere to be found.

Liara bit her bottom lip when she finally came to the conclusion her bondmate had obviously deduced a while ago. Broker agents must have forestalled Illium's authority from interfering with one simple assassination. However, they had to resort to cruder methods when they encountered unexpected resistance, ie, the extra surveillance she had arranged, plus Jack.

That would explain Shepard's reckless driving, Liara thought, frowning at the implication. A strange feeling of unease churned in the pit of her stomach; Liara forced the stray thoughts away and willed herself to concentrate on the task at hand instead.

They waded through smoke, fire, and ice cold water raining down from the automatic sprinkler system. Liara inwardly reprimanded herself; if only she had thought to bring at least a breather mask, the task would have been significantly easier. Though the cold water felt like pin pricks on her crest, it rinsed off her eyes and dampened the dry heat brought on by the smoke and fire. She missed the HUD, too. Spotting organic enemies with her biotic was not exactly a hardship, but this ability did not help her locate mechs and drones - another reason why she should follow Shepard's example and keep a portable helmet on her person if she planned on getting into this kind of sticky situation again.

There were a few terrified office workers inside the building, but they didn't encounter any Broker agents on the first two floors. As soon as they pried open the safety airlock that served as a fire barrier on the third floor, they were greeted with a hail of bullets. Without needing to be prompted, Liara snapped out a singularity at the group of gunmen in white hardsuits. She was very familiar with Shepard's fighting style and had fully expected her to follow up with a biotic charge.

The vanguard didn't charge ahead. Shepard took a moment to focus her biotic down her blade and slashed at the group of trapped opponents from halfway down the hall. A visible pulse of biotics sailed across the distance in less than a blink of an eye, phasing through solid objects, and sliced into multiple hardsuit protected bodies in a wide arc like a hot knife through butter. Upon impact, the razor sharp biotic slash destabilized her own singularity and triggered a spectacular explosion on collision. Those who had a strong enough shield to stay in one piece after the attack, died instantly from warp-like biotic damage on the microscopic level.

Liara caught the stunned expression on Neaira's face; apparently the young commando had never seen anything like it before, either.

It made sense, Liara thought. This office building was filled with obstacles such as cubicles, furnitures, and computer stations. If Shepard had charged ahead as per her usual style, she would have had to leave her squad behind. Attacking from a safe distance away while flushing enemies from cover was the superior tactic. She supposed a couple well placed biotic shockwaves could accomplish a similar effect.

But that didn't explain how her bondmate knew how to pull off this strange biotic technique. She had thought Shepard would use the monomolecular blade for close-quarter hand-to-hand combat, not… this.

More enemies approached as the squad pressed onward. The red arrow symbol painted across their chestplate stood out sharply against the white of their hardsuits. Liara recognized the symbol - these mercs were the Broker's private army. Not only were they well equipped, they were well organized. Their troop makeup was similar to that of Eclipse, with a good mix of biotics, engineers, and heavily armored front line soldiers who dealt out flashbang grenades like mead-addled maidens flinging flower petals during Janiris jubilee.

"We're too late." Neaira muttered under her breath when they ran across a group of dead mercs in Eclipse colours on the floor right below the Nos Astra branch office of Baria Frontiers. They were temporary contractors specifically hired to watch over Sekat and make sure he did not double cross her until he was ready to hand over the result, not to lay down their lives protecting him. The fact that they were all gunned down meant that the danger had come so suddenly that they did not have a chance to retreat.

"Not quite." Shepard crouched over sprawling bodies and scanned them for info.

The Eclipse mercs were all dead, but most of their Omni-tools were still intact. Liara noted that while her bondmate might not be trained as a combat engineer, but she was competent enough to bypass most locked doors and hack through generic firewalls during non-combat situations. On top of that, Shepard had Widget the cyberwarfare VI to handle more complicated tasks. Hacking a few Omni-tools should be child's play.

Moments later, Shepard had results. "They put a tracker on Sekat. He is on this floor..." She looked around and gestured at an overturned file cabinet in the corner of the room.

Neaira lifted the reinforced metal container off the ground and shook it. A terrified salarian tumbled out of the swung open doors with a high-pitched screech and huddled into a tight ball with one arm wrapped around his head to protect his face. "Don't hurt me!"

"Sekat? You are safe now." Liara said in the most soothing voice she could managed. She approached Sekat slowly and kneeled down to put a hand gently on his arm. He twitched in fright but didn't flee.

Blinking rapidly in distress, Sekat peeked over his arm to confirm their identity. "Dr. T'Soni! Damn it! This is your fault!" The salaria stood up, looking equal parts angry and relieved. He roughly shoved a round disc into her hands and immediately jumped back as if the item were dripping venom. "Take it and go away!"

"Have you seen a female human biotics with a shaved head and lots of tattoos on her body?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, I have. She broke into my office and stuffed me into my own file cabinet before the gunfire and explosions started. That's all I know. I suppose she saved my life."

It was impossible to discern what kind of expression Shepard was wearing under her helmet, but Liara could tell her bondmate was upset by her body language alone. Shepard rarely display this, but the way she held her back rigidly straight while staying perfectly still reminded her of that one time at the Normandy's med bay when she overheard Shepard's private conversation with Dr. Chakwas.

Liara couldn't help but wonder why this woman seemed so important to Shepard. Her bondmate had never explained the criteria she used to find the most useful hired gun for her undercover sting. She simply trusted her judgement like the time Shepard elicited Kasumi's help. And to be honest, she was beginning to worry.

"We should go before NAPD gets here." Shepard said quietly. Liara almost believed her to be completely fine if she had not known her bondmate so well.

x-x-x

"Liara!" Tali greeted her with an enthusiastic hug as soon as she stepped off the Kodiak. It seemed her young quarian friend had been waiting anxiously in the ship's cargo bay for some time.

"Hello, Tali." Liara returned the hug with a somewhat subdued smile. "It's been a while." She looked around the cargo bay with obvious curiosity and commented, "I have been on salarian ships before, but this is… different."

"Salarian shipbuilders stole more than just the Normandy's Tantalus drive core and IES stealth system. The ship's hull is fitted with asari-designed Silaris heavy armor and quarian-invented CBT multicolor shielding. Even the interior space layout is more turian than salarian. Only the navigation system and the shell of the ship is of salarian design. Everything else is a hodge-podge of stolen tech. Of course, it's quite ingenious how they've managed to incorporate all the puzzle pieces together so well. If I weren't so angry about the fact that they've stolen the Normandy's design, I would say this frigate is a masterpiece of salarian engineering marvel."

"Which is why we couldn't dock the Enigma at Illium's spaceport and had to use the Kodiak for transport." Shepard added as she took off her helmet. Sweat drenched red hair clung to her freckled cheeks and the elegant curvature of her neck. Her short hair had grown out an inch or two longer, and her skin seemed a shade paler than Liara remembered. What was most startling was the faint bruises under her glowing green eyes. She had not noticed them when she had last seen her bondmate in her apartment, in the dark. Shepard looked like she hadn't slept in days.

Tali squeaked in surprise. "You-you're taking off your helmet? What about…"

"It's just us here." Shepard shrugged, put her helmet on a workstation, and seized Liara by her waist. "So I can finally do this." Her bondmate then proceeded to kiss her so hard, it felt like all the cartilages in her crests had gone limp like wet putty.

"... I'll leave you two to it." Tali promptly made herself scarce, giggling as she ran away.

Liara only just realized she had been lifted to sit on a workstation with her legs wrapped around Shepard's hips. She opened her mouth to speak, but whatever she was planning to say stalled in her brain when Shepard slipped her tongue between her parted lips again. The kiss was deep and lingering. Shepard took her time to explore, drinking in every little moan and gasp she could coax out of her. From the way her vision had taken on a dreamy quality, sharpened yet blurred at the same time, Liara knew her own eyes had most likely darkened from sky blue to a solid glassy black.

Shepard rested her forehead against her own and let out a sigh. "Ok, now I'm done being selfish, I should tell Kasumi where we're headed. There's no time to lose."

"Wait, Shepard." Liara cradled her pale cheeks with her hands, looking into her eyes with obvious concern. "I can feel your mind in turmoil. You are not well. We will be jumping to a different system, you can afford to take a break and talk to me. What's wrong?"

Shepard gave her a grateful look and squeezed tighter into the embrace. "You're right. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to shut you out. I just have a lot on my mind." She combed through her messy hair with a hand and conceded, "let me to talk to Kasumi quick. It'll be two minutes. After that, I'll jump into the shower quick, and then we can talk over dinner. Fair?"

When Shepard made the request with that apologetic look on her face, Liara couldn't really say no, even though she had really wanted to sit down and have a serious talk right away instead of letting her delay it further. This was how Liara found herself fidgeting with indecision in front of the closed door on the crew deck where Shepard had disappeared into. At the end, she made up her mind to slip into the communal bath when the faint sound of the shower started.

Of all the space-faring races, salarians had the most elaborate bathing culture. This physiology driven preference was not only prevalent in their architecture, but also reflected in their spaceship design. Even a small frigate such as the Enigma had a decent bath installed. The signature feature of a salarian bath, an oval-shaped heated pool, was sadly shrunken down to the size of a soaker tub. But still, it was incredible how a frigate would have a bathtub onboard. Liara took off her clothes and set them aside on a bench in the changing room. Quiet as a cat, she snuck into the bath while staring at the other woman in the room.

Shepard was standing still under the spray of steamy shower with a hand bracing the wall and her head down. Liara noted with dismay how much exhaustion her posture conveyed. Shepard always seemed so strong, so in control, it was disconcerting to catch her at a moment of weakness.

Without making a sound, Liara approached her bondmate from behind and softly put her hands on her narrow waist. Shepard jolted at the unexpected touch, but relaxed when Liara slowly began to massage her way up her muscular back.

Shepard let out a groan when she found a particularly tight knot on her right shoulder. Liara was pleased to discover how a few minutes of massage was able to transformed Shepard's posture from tired to relaxed.

"You're a miracle worker." Shepard mumbled, turning around in a slightly sluggish fashion before leaning forward to envelop Liara in a hug. Shepard's body temperature was higher than normal from the shower, and the sensation of her bondmate's hot, slippery body rubbing against her front sent her hormones into overdrive. Liara had to remind herself sternly that she had not come here to ambush Shepard for sex; she was supposed to corner her bondmate and make her talk. Pushing back to create a little distance between them, Liara studied Shepard's features with an unhappy frown as she took in the dark circles under her eyes and the sunken cheeks. The heat from the shower had returned some colour to her complexion, but she was noticeably thinner than Liara remembered.

"You look exhausted." Liara said, feeling her chest constrict with worry.

"I, um, have not been sleeping well." Shepard admitted. At Liara's questioning look, she added, "been having nightmares."

"Nightmares?" Liara couldn't help but recall the specific one she had witnessed in the past. No wonder she looked so drained. "About the Reapers?"

Shepard grimaced and nodded her confirmation, looking quite embarrassed to admit that the impending extinction of all advanced races had disturbed her sleep.

"You've lost weight, too." Liara pointed out quietly. "Should I ask Tali to babysit you?"

Shepard wrinkled her nose. "No, that won't be necessary. I just… I have a lot on my mind. Stress, I guess. I've been thinking of a way to stop the Collectors. If everything goes according to plan, a lot of that stress will be taken off my shoulders." She brushed a thumb over Liara's cheek, and said with a small grin, "I'm counting on you, actually. Even with Widget, I'm not that good with data analysis. You, on the other hand, I'm sure will be amazingly good at it."

"You really think so?" Liara asked, stunned by how well Shepard had thought of her own capabilities.

"Yeah, of course. You were able to put together the cycle of extinction from whatever little clues you could find. Imagine what you can do with the entire Shadow Broker network."

"Wait a second. What do you mean, network? I thought we were going to assassinate the Shadow Broker."

Shepard tilted her head in puzzlement. "Yes? And then we are going to steal their entire organization with you taking over as the new Shadow Broker. That's why I needed the best thief to pull off this heist. Have I not explained the details of Operation Cuckoo to you before? I thought I have."

"No, you have not!" Liara was aghast.

Shepard's jaw dropped open. "But I remember explaining everything to Kasumi when she first came on board… Oh, right. You weren't in the room. I just assumed I've told you everything already. Oops."

"I need to sit down." Liara muttered and climbed into the tub. The hot water was excellent, she thought to herself distractingly.

Shepard followed her into the tub. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't mean to dump this on you. I really thought we've talked about this. I suppose I've been keeping track of too many things all at once." Scratching her chin in a thoughtful gesture, she asked tentatively, "remind me again - have I told you why I thought the Collectors must be stopped other than the fact they work for the Reapers?"

Liara blinked owlishly at her bondmate. "Self preservation, I thought? If Kasumi had not recorded their dealings on Omega, you wouldn't have known they were hunting you. They would have killed you when they shot down the Normandy. They won't ever stop if they know you are still alive."

"I can't believe it. How can I fuck this up so much? I should've told you a long time ago. I thought I had, dammit! I told Hackett, but I didn't tell you. What a stupid mistake." Shepard looked so angry with herself, she was ready to tear her hair out. Rubbing her face with both hands, Shepard took a moment to calm herself down before she began. "The Collectors are the Reaper's indoctrinated servants. They have been heavily modified both on the genetic level, as well as with extensive cybernetic enhancements. The process of converting people into husks takes time. So is indoctrination. The Collectors are organic slaves manufactured in advance to be used as the initial wave of front line soldiers for ground assault when the Reapers come."

"Goddess!"

"If you think this is bad, you're not gonna like the next part. I know what they are because I've seen them in action. Take a wild guess where."

 _The Beacon._ Liara put a hand over her mouth. "The Reapers used the Collectors to fight the Protheans."

"Sweetie," Shepard gave her a sympathetic look. "The Collectors _were_ Protheans."

Liara was sure she was going to throw up.

"At least, they were Prothean in origin. After being so thoroughly mutilated by the Reapers for fifty thousand years, you can't really call them Protheans anymore." Shepard ran a hand through her wet hair tiredly and said, "so now you see why we must take down the Collectors. Without them serving as the Reaper's shock troop, our people will have an easier time surviving on the ground. There is a time limit to it, however. The Collectors have been hiding beyond the Omega 4 relay and waiting for their master's return since the last cycle. Strategically speaking, the best time to take them out from the war is to strike them now, before the Reapers come. And you know what this means."

"No, I don't! You can't possibly suggest that you're planning to go through the Omega 4 relay and attack their base. Other than the Collectors, no one has ever gone through that relay and lived to tell the tale. Even if you somehow find a way through, who knows what's waiting for you on the other side? You don't need me to remind you what happened the last time you ran into _one_ Collector ship. You'll need a fleet to take on the Collectors in their homeworld. This is suicide!" Liara's voice rose steadily as she went. By the end of it, she was practically shouting.

Contrast to her own purple faced outburst over the outrageousness of the situation, Shepard remained resolute and calm. "This is the best chance we have to cripple the Reapers before their robotic tentacles touch the ground. We can figure out the logistics later, but you are smart enough to see that my analysis is sound. If we don't deal with them now, our people are going to pay for it a thousand times over when the war breaks out."

Liara's lips trembled. She hated how Shepard was right every time there was bad news. Every. Single. Time.

"Liara." Shepard took her hands and squeezed them in a comforting gesture. Liara looked down to stare at their intertwined hands, their matching red and purple bond bracelets dangled on their wrists, swaying with the bath water's gentle waves. "From past records, we know that the Collectors rarely venture out of their base. They are supposed to be in hiding beyond the Omega 4 relay. They have been using the Shadow Broker to keep tab on the outside world. Think for a moment what that means."

She didn't need to think, she knew already. Liara answered quietly, "I get it, Shepard. You don't have to break it down step by step for my benefit. I am not disagreeing with you, I am simply having... a hard time accepting it." Liara bit her bottom lip and swallowed the bitter taste of resentment bubbling in her chest.

To that, Shepard only had one thing to say. "I'm sorry."

Liara shook her head. "Don't. Because we both know you'll do whatever it takes to stop the Reapers." She retracted her hands from Shepard's grasp and put them on her cheeks, brushing the damp skin lovingly with a thumb. Her bondmate stared at her, her brows furrowed together in a mournful downward slant. "You've given me a lot to think about. Please, I need time."

"Of course. I didn't mean to dump all this on you. Again, I'm really sorry, Liara. I should've told you earlier."

Liara debated with herself whether she should bring up the topic of Jack. At the end, she decided it wasn't the best time. She trusted Shepard, she really did. This ugly feeling of unreasonable jealousy regarding the merc seemed extremely unattractive, Liara thought ruefully. She would deal with her own insecurity at a later date.

"Your hands are pruning. I didn't know humans can do that. Odd. Come on, that's enough bathing for you. Let's get you some food and sleep. You look like you need it. We only have two days to plan out the mission. You need to be at your best to break into the lair of the Shadow Broker."

x-x-x

A/N: Phew! That took a while. I hardly had any time to write during the past two months. I was distracted by real life issues, and a bout of writer's block didn't help, either. Update will continue to be slow because it takes longer to jump back in after a break. On a different note, Liara in 2184 in this AU is not the same Liara in 2185 in canon ME2. In this story, her growth will be more gradual because there is no two-year time skip.


	21. II-06: Cuckoo

Book II - Chapter 6: Cuckoo

Liara was not one to boast, so Shepard had no idea how she even managed to find the Shadow Broker's lair on her own the last time around, nevermind then infiltrating the base without a stealth ship at her disposal. Shepard really wished she had more details. The only thing she remembered Liara mentioning last time was hiring an army of mercs to storm the base. Now they would have to strive for a better result with only a small squad of three. Lovely.

Perhaps she had grown too dependent on her foreknowledge, Shepard reflected. As much as she would have liked to keep her advantage, the Butterfly Effect had already set in. Deviations from the original timeline would only increase as time went by. Applying this principle to their current mission, it meant that what had worked for Liara the last time around might not work again under a different set of circumstances. She needed to get used to the idea that her foreknowledge was more of a list of helpful hints than a detailed walkthrough.

In other words, Shepard could hardly afford to be complacent. In an arena where the stake were people's lives, she absolutely needed to be more devious and more adaptive than the other players. If she slipped up… Look what happened when she got overconfident: Liara was nearly strangled to death and Shepard had to blow her cover to stop Vasir from killing her bondmate. Jack was missing, possibly captured by the Broker's agents (or Cerberus, if she was unlucky enough) - another reason to storm the Broker's lair and thrash the information out of the yahg.

Worst of all, Shepard was rudely awaken to the sad reality that she was _losing it_.

It wasn't because she had too many projects on the go; she can multi-task. She could handle her workload and she knew when to delegate. Shepard didn't think it was possible, but she was under more stress right now than during the height of the Reaper invasion when _millions_ died every day.

Hope, as she found out first hand, was a heavier burden than despair.

Shepard was well aware she was making mistakes - especially around Liara. Although her bondmate had not questioned her further, mixing up her own timelines had to come across as forgetful at best, and psychologically unstable at worse. Liara was _sharp_. Any more careless mistakes like this one and she would wonder whether Shepard was losing grasp on reality. She might even suspect the beacon had truly scrambled her fragile human brain.

The sad part was, Shepard had a pretty good idea why she was slipping up. She was getting too comfortable, too happy. Before she realized what was going on, she had grown to be dependent of Liara as her pillar of support for her tattered mental health. Who would have thought that living through the end of the world would be so traumatic, she had to lean on another's mind to keep herself from falling to pieces? During the last few months when she had been away from Liara, she could feel herself slowly going insane from the stress alone. Sure, Kasumi was there with her, but the thief was not her bondmate. Jack's company was greatly appreciated, but then again, the woman herself was a few screws short of a hardware store.

After they were done with the yahg, Shepard promised herself, she was finally going to tell Liara about her PTSD.

 _Some hero I am. I can't even admit to my wife that I'm broken._

"Found it." Kasumi interrupted her depressing internal dialogue by drawing her attention to the Enigma's main display.

After two day's travel, they had finally reached Hagalaz, a second tier garden world that suffered from extreme heat and cold conditions due to its slow rotation. The Shadow Broker's base, which was a one-of-a-kind ship that chased around the planet's twilight band from low orbit to camouflage its presence within the planet's violent storms, would have been near impossible to find without Sekat's help.

"Would you look at that..." Kasumi trailed off into a whistle. The holo-screens for the various sensors were alight with colours. It was like Christmas in the cockpit.

Tali, who was currently sitting in as the helmsman for this mission, clicked her tongue at the readouts. "Amazing. It has to be custom built. I've never seen anything like it before. If I'm a betting woman, I would say that the ship is constantly harvesting the electrical energy within the naturally occurring storms as fuel. The excess electricity is then discharged back into the atmosphere, effectively using it as a powerful jamming device. Look at the sensors; the ship is visible, but since its surrounding is emitting all kinds of junk information, it might as well be invisible!"

"Like a needle in a haystack," Shepard agreed with a nod.

Liara studied the blurry image of the ship with a contemplative frown. Even with the most powerful sensors the salarian STG had installed on the Enigma, the ship was almost indiscernible from background noise. "The storm is going to be a problem. Landing will be tricky."

"Can we stay in stealth during landing?" Shepard asked Tali.

Tali shook her head. "Yes and no. While we can stay in stealth during landing, there is no safe spot to land. It would be better if we use the Kodiak instead. Because of the electrical surges, I doubt there would be any surveillance cameras installed on the exterior of the ship. They'll fry in no time. It would have been perfect if we had installed a stealth drive on the Kodiak. But alas, I haven't figured out how to miniaturize the heat sink enough to fit the frame yet. Something to think about."

Shepard nodded in agreement. "I see what you mean. If I were the Shadow Broker, I would rely on surveillance probes in orbit to watch for approaching enemy ships while keeping a contingent of guards on the base for security and maintenance."

"Our stealth ship already got us through the first hurdle, now we just need to sneak past guards and hack through locked doors - exactly the job for a master thief." Kasumi said with a happy sigh.

"The heist of the century," Shepard smiled. "Seeing how paranoid the Broker is, I expect this place to be crawling with bodyguards. We'll try your way first, but I have a feeling it won't be a leisurely stroll in the park. When stealth fails, we'll have to force our way in. There is one upside to this." Grinning affectionately at her squad, Shepard spoke with complete confidence, "the Broker is essentially trapped on their own ship. Their obsession with secrecy has pretty much ensured that there will be no reinforcements. As long as we strike fast, they won't know what hit them."

"And then we will make the Broker pay for everything they have done." Liara promised with a hint of cold fury that somehow managed to terrify her and turn her on at the same time.

"That we will." The pleasant smile on Shepard's face morphed to a bloodthirsty snarl. "The Shadow Broker is partly responsible for blowing up _the Normandy_. Not to mention they want to kill me and sell my corpse to the Reapers. Pissed off does not _begin_ to describe how I feel. I swear, when I find them, I'm gonna pulverize them with my bare hands."

Kasumi added helpfully, "and then we're going to rob them blind." There was no mistaking the out and out glee in her voice. "Hey, if you ask me, it's totally justified!"

Shepard gave the thief a grin. "Exactly."

Liara brought their attention back to the task at hand by pointing at the holo-screen. "According to the readings, the electrical disturbance is more concentrated at the back of the ship, specifically around those towering structures. I suspect their main function is to divert lightning away from the massive communications array located right below them at the stern."

Shepard immediately picked up on what Liara was trying to say. "That's the centre of the spider's web. That must be where the Broker is. And I suppose we wouldn't be so lucky that the Broker has left the shuttle bay unlocked. We'll need to land on the ship and hunt for a hatch."

"There is one problem - I wouldn't recommend landing at the back if we want to try sneaking in first." Kasumi offered her opinion as the professional entry man. "That communications array is the beating heart of the Broker's operations. If there's one place the Broker wants to keep an eye on at all time, it would be that. At the least I would expect a horde of guards, maintenance drones, and automatic turrets. I would prefer to park our ride at the front of the ship. That way, it'll be easier to infiltrate the ship before they smarten up and dead-seal all the hatches - if they know how to do that. There shouldn't be too many guards patrolling the exterior of the ship. I mean, it's got to be a shitty job that nobody likes to do."

Shepard was impressed. "So we land at the bow, bypass most of the guards by walking outside, and then find a hatch closer to the stern. I like it. Suit up, ladies. It's show time."

x-x-x

And what a spectacular set it was.

Shepard was never more glad she had mentally ruled out airdropping in as the squad's landing method early in the planning stage. It would have been suicide. Hagalaz's perpetual electrical storms churned and boiled in a violent symphony. Lightning lit up the rolling clouds, casting writhing shadows all around them like dancing spectres. Even though she knew they were perfectly safe within the protection of the Kodiak, the fact that they were hit by lightning more than a couple times was strangely disconcerting.

They approached from below and landed on the bow of the ship, in between two lightning towers and out of sight. The first thing they did after jumping off the Kodiak was to activate meg-lock attached to their boots. Their hardsuits would save them from stray lightning strikes, but it would be a hell of a long drop if they were to fall off the ship. The constant howling wind and the creaky hull only served to make the trek more perilous than it had to be. Shepard could only hope the Broker had promised hazard pay for their private army, because a lot of them were about to be flung off the ship. By her.

"Keep your shields up at all times. One stray lightning strike won't kill you, but it'll kill your shield. Don't rush. If your shield is low, stay behind cover and wait for recharge. One more advice - those capacitor towers look dangerous. I would give them a wide berth." Shepard warned. She had wisely left her monomolecular blade on the Enigma for this trip because she had no desire to play human lightning rod.

"I'll scout ahead." Kasumi said before she activated her cloak and vanished from sight. Fortunately she had graciously kept Shepard's tracking program running in her Omni-tool, so even though she was invisible, her location still showed up on the helmet's display as a green dot.

The first stretch of the hike was uneventful. Kasumi was right about guards not enjoying patrolling this section of the ship because of how dangerous it was. For one thing, there were no guardrails along the walkway. Shepard idly wondered how much credits the Broker had to spend on HR every year. With these kinds of absurd working conditions and the high attrition rate, keeping a steady stream of loyal recruitment must be a logistical nightmare.

"Drones." Kasumi said quietly. Shepard and Liara stayed back and let the thief deal with them herself.

In the background, Widget dutifully recorded the ship's dimensions and began scanning. It seemed there were numerous access hatches built into the hull for storing maintenance drones. Shepard had expected as much. What was surprising though, was the subtle scuff marks made by Omni-tools all over the hull.

This ship, regardless of how unique and sophisticated its design was, was old. Maintenance drones were only good for minor repairs. Any non-routine upgrades or more serious repairs would require technicians to do the job by hand - hence the tool marks. Perhaps, this was probably the real reason why the Broker had people patrolling the exterior of the ship. They were not just the security guards - they were the mechanics who kept this hunk of metal from crashing down onto the planet below.

What would happen to the ship if they were to kill them all while trying to break in?

"Patrols coming our way." Kasumi reported in.

Shepard made a split second decision. "Stay low." She said to the thief and signaled Liara to go hide behind a section of the ship's uneven hull. They waited until the group of guards walked past them and out of sight before they continued. "We need to hurry. It looks like they're disciplined enough to keep a regular patrol."

Knowing their time was short, they pressed on with more urgency. Eventually their luck ran out when an unremarkable section of the hall unexpectedly slid open and out came a group of guards and security mechs that literally ran into Shepard.

To their credit, the guards were only momentarily stunned from the shock, though the security mechs didn't pause at all - they were exceedingly polite _and_ apologetic about it when they fired at the squad, however. Liara's warp and her own biotic pull hit the group almost at the same time. Shepard rolled away, unclicked the new M-5 Phalanx from her belt, and quickly fired off three head shots from cover. All three of her targets stayed down after that.

"Impressive." Liara complemented, sounding rather pleased with herself that her gift to Shepard had worked as well as intended.

"I don't think stealth is gonna work at this point. So much for that idea." Kasumi grumbled.

"Agreed." Shepard gave her a sharp nod and picked up the pace. Someone had to have noticed that shots had been fired.

They ran into another group of guards soon after. Now that stealth was out the window, Shepard opted for the next best thing - chaos. Taking advantage of the enemy's proximity to the ship's towering capacitors, Shepard fired off a shot at the glowing structure and watched the electrical surges fry the guards with a perverse satisfaction. Liara followed up with a singularity to fling two shield-less guards off the ship while Shepard snapped out a reave that rapidly ate through an asari agent's barrier like nobody's business. A laser-guided headshot finished her off neatly.

"You didn't charge." Liara said in a puzzled tone.

Shepard shrugged. The small furrow between Liara's brows at her reply made her smile. "It's, em, a bit of a signature move of Commander Shepard's. Vasir would've told the Shadow Broker all about it. I don't want to give myself away." _Not yet._ And hopefully whoever had installed the surveillance camera at Liara's apartment had not realized the significance of it, either.

"Oh." The almost bashful expression on Liara's face at the obvious answer made Shepard chuckle out loud.

The squad ran into several more patrols. Though each group was quickly dispatched, it became apparent that the resistance was escalating steadily as well. The Broker must know by now that their uber secret base was being invaded.

"Clearly, looking down was a mistake." Liara complained breathlessly as they skidded down a particular steep slope to access a walkway with no guardrail.

"We've been spotted. Again. I really don't like fighting mechs." Shepard crouched behind a row of metal pipes and fired at the three Loki mechs clanking towards the squad from cover. The ever-so-polite mechs kept advancing steadily while apologizing for shooting at them.

"I got this." Kasumi said gleefully while rapidly hacking into the mechs to cause a surge to overload their system. This stunned the enemies long enough that the squad was able to finish them off with their pistols.

Shepard missed her Spectre grade Master shotgun. The M-23 Katana that she had to settle with for her undercover work really could not measure up. This model would improve in the next few years, but as it was now, the Phalanx was the superior weapon.

"Hey, look. A door. Finally. And it's not locked." If she had to guess, they had probably killed the mechanics who had unlocked the door to conduct maintenance. Shepard cautiously walked into the room. Now that they were not being battered constantly by the strong winds, the place seemed disturbingly quiet. There were a row of panels, sliding up and down along one side of the room, hissing quietly as visible bolts of electricity zig-zagged between the panels. Shepard wasn't sure what this complicated equipment was for, but she knew enough to stay clear of it.

Liara watched the contraption in awe. She was clearly impressed. "This is incredible. It must have taken them decades to build in secret."

"I wonder what happened to the contractors." Shepard pondered out loud, already knowing the answer.

"I think we can guess." Liara said in a dry voice.

As they walked across the room to find a way through, Liara had an epiphany. "Navigating this storm is brutal. If the ship's engine stops even for a moment…"

Shepard caught on immediately. No one in their right mind would dare to sabotage the ship's critical systems unless they were willing to go down with the ship as well. "At least the Shadow Broker would go down with us."

Liara shot her a disapproving glare.

"Just saying." Shepard said, wilting a little at Liara's frown.

"That's comforting." Kasumi quipped.

They moved across the engine room and paused in front of another set of doors at the end of the walkway. Shepard had to remind herself to brace for the howling winds when the door hissed open. From where they were, the towering antenna at the stern of the ship seemed ridiculously massive. She briefly wondered if its main function was to diffuse the electrical surges in the storms or to transmit encrypted data throughout the galaxy.

The second leg of the trek was slightly more exciting than the first half. For one thing, there were more capacitors closer to the back of the ship, and there were more guards swarming at them. It was a lethal combination for the unfortunate Broker agents. Repeating her earlier tactics, Shepard ordered her squad to stay well back, out of range and behind cover, while setting off deadly electrical surges by shooting at the glowing capacitors.

It was almost too easy. The last time around, Liara had lost two dozen mercs storming this place. Now, Shepard knew she was good, but she had expected more from the paranoid Shadow Broker. No way their HQ would be this lightly guarded.

They stopped in front of the locked main hatch that led directly to the base of the main deck.

"Kasumi?" Shepard asked, scanning the surrounding with narrowed eyes. This location was a perfect ambush site. Even without the short range map overlay Widget had plotted out on the HUD, she could tell that they were completely exposed.

The thief examined the panel with her graybox goggles in place. She must have saved a copy of thousands of schematics in there. "Interesting. Top of the line blast door. More suited for a fallout shelter or a bank vault than a simple airlock. I've seen this before. Yes, I can get us through. This lock has been recently updated to patch the glaring security hole all locks had suffered from a scant two months ago. The Omni-gel trick is outdated, just so you know." She laced her fingers together and stretched, cracking her knuckles a few times before whipping out her Omni-tool with a flourish. "But that's why you need the best."

"About that," Shepard gestured Liara to crouch behind cover at one side of the door while she took up position on the other side. "You should stay cloaked while you do it. We've got incoming. At least twenty." The raised segment of the hull that served as their cover was pathetically small. With Kasumi immobilized by her task, they needed to draw fire away from the thief's location, regardless if she was visible or not. Kasumi did not have the thickest armor. A stray bullet would take her out. "Do you see any cameras here?"

"There was one in the engine room, but none here. No camera can survive this ship's outer hull for long." Kasumi confirmed.

There was no other way to do it. This operation hinged on Kasumi getting them in. Shepard had anticipated for a more direct approach anyway. "Liara, stay here and guard Kasumi's back while she does her thing. And since no one is watching, I'm cutting loose." She clicked the laser-guided heavy pistol back onto her belt and reached back and pulled out her shotgun. What she was about to do required a lot of brute force and zero subtleties. Hopefully, the bigger the fuss she could kick up, the less danger the master thief would be in.

 _No Nova._ Shepard reminded herself in her head. She needed to present herself as an attractive target, so she would have to keep moving to draw attention away from Kasumi's direction. Depending on how many enemies showed up, she might even take a few hits deliberately in favour of staying behind cover. Between stray lightning strikes and hostile fire, she had to keep her shield up at all times to stay alive. Shepard was aware that her barrier was nowhere near as strong as it could have been (which, Vasir was in her right to make fun of her lackluster technique). In her opinion, mobility trumped defense. A properly powered biotic barrier, as well as all other defensive techniques she knew of, would have slowed her down too much.

Basically, she was going to reave, charge, and hope for the best. Plus, shotgun to the face should be obnoxious enough to draw most people's attention. Shepard was confident that if the quality of the opposition was similar to the security mechs and common Broker agents she had encountered so far, they would fall over quickly even if she had to take whole teams of them out by herself. The only potential problem she could think of would be turret flyers.

And before she was ready, there was no time to strategize anymore. Over a dozen guards descended from three sides all at once, boxing them in. Roaring out a muted warcry, Shepard stretched out her left arm and caught three guards coming at her from the middle path in a powerful reave. A split second later, her armored outline blurred into a streak of silver and cyan as she charged into the fray. Unstable biotic fields exploded outward, flinging all three off the ship's hull. While two were killed instantly from the attack, the last unfortunate salarian guard was still screaming as he sailed off the edge. It would be a long time before he hit the ground.

Shepard didn't pause. She mentally mapped out her squad's location versus the coming waves of Broker guards before storming towards the group of commandos at her left. Rolling behind cover just in time to dodge a warp aimed at her head, Shepard spun around while crouching and fired at the glowing lightning capacitor across the hull, right next to the group of security mechs creeping up behind her. It was impossible not to grin at the satisfying visual of Loki mechs melting down to slag.

"Oomph!" Grunting at the unexpected attack, Shepard had good enough reflexes to braced for the tackle coming from her flank. It seemed one of the commandos was also a vanguard, albeit not a very good one. After the momentary stun, Shepard returned the favour by executing a short distance charge at the asari vanguard. Unlike the love tap she received earlier, her own attack crushed through her opponent's barrier like it was made of cardboard. She then followed up with a biotic enhanced heavy punch at the commando's unprotected jaw. The familiar yet unholy _crack_ at the moment of impact could only be the sound of bones breaking _._ Shepard didn't waste time to check if the commando was completely out or not, a point blank shotgun to the head was enough to ensure her opponent would not get up again.

A fresh wave of reinforcements rushed in and attempted to swarm her position before the previous group was completely pacified. Shepard snarled, firing her shotgun to keep the guards back as she surveyed the scene. Not so far from Kasumi's location, Liara had ensnared a couple guards in a singularity while fending off a rocket drone by firing at it from cover. Shepard finished off the dangling guards with an area reave, and then took off at a different direction where the enemies were the thickest.

The next little while flew by in a haze of fire and steel. It became apparent quickly that there was a good reason why Liara's hired guns didn't make it the last time around. The sheer number of guards the Broker had thrown at them would have been difficult for ordinary mercs to handle. If Shepard had not had the experience of fighting an overwhelming number of enemies at the same time, she might have been overrun two minutes in.

"I got it! We're in!" Kasumi let out a triumphant cry, just as Shepard dispatched the last Broker guard standing with her shotgun.

Breathing heavily to steady her thundering heartbeats, Shepard scanned the corpse littered battlefield with a brief stab of regret. She had lost count how many guards she had to put down during the skirmish. It always bothered her to kill the Broker's private guards, knowing that every dead agent would be one less gun at their side to be used against the Reapers later on.

Liara calmly straightened up from behind cover, brushing off a patch of soot on her shoulder from her otherwise pristine white coat. "I thought it would take longer. Kasumi, what program did you use to crack the hatch open?"

"Oh, it's just a simple bypass shunt program of my own design. You won't find it on the open market. I don't think it's legal anywhere. Why? Are you planning to break into another secret base?" Kasumi teased.

The faint smile on Liara's face could only be called impish. For once, Shepard had no idea what her bondmate was thinking about. "Perhaps," Liara said with her head slightly tilted to the side, glancing at Shepard's direction with a curious glint in her eyes. "We'll see."

"There's got to be more guards inside, and they must know we're coming. Standard formation, ladies." Shepard said as she took point.

The hallway was quite narrow for a ship this size. Worse still, it appeared that there were plenty of nooks and crannies located on either sides of the passage - perfect for guards to ambush intruders unfamiliar with the ship's layout. Liara and Kasumi stayed a few steps behind her, each protecting Shepard's flanks while she concentrated on the enemies down the middle of the hallway. Opposite to her previous tactics, the claustrophobic interior space restricted Shepard's ability to use her mobility to its fullest extend. Instead of charging forward recklessly like a human wrecking ball, she had to switch gear and rely on her pistol and her long range biotic techniques. This actually reminded her a lot of the mission back on Noveria, where enemies could jump out from any corners. Minus the giant, acid-spitting death lobsters on steroid, of course.

"That's just not fair." Shepard grumbled to herself, her shoulder pressing against the durasteel bulkhead while she waited for the fire and smoke to clear. "What made them think firing a missile launcher _inside_ a ship is a good idea? I want one too."

The Shadow Broker's garbled voice blared through ship's internal broadcast just as the squad mowed down the group of guards stationed at the first checkpoint. "Hold your position at all cost!"

 _The yahg is sweating._ Shepard thought, gleefully. She picked up the missile launcher clutched in a dead guard's hands and clipped the heavy weapon on the back of her armor. The added weight was uncomfortable, but she had a feeling that she'd need it later.

While she was busy checking the ground for supplies and extra thermal clips, Kasumi had her Omni-tool out in front of the terminal at the checkpoint. "I've got the ship's blueprint. Forwarding it to you now. We're close... Eww, is that a torture chamber? That is sick."

An angry growl slipped through Shepard's clenched teeth. _They had better not be holding Jack in a fucking torture chamber. If that's what they've done..._

As if sensing her distress, Liara put her hand on Shepard's arm to calm her mounting temper before she could work herself up into a frenzy. "We're almost there."

Shepard gave her a jerky nod. _Keep cool now, get angry later._

When they finally cleared out the guards in the prison block, Shepard wasn't sure whether she should feel relieved or dejected that the torture chamber was empty. Where the hell would Jack be then, if the Broker hadn't captured her? She couldn't think of one good reason why Jack would ditch her Omni-tool and go incognito in the middle of an important mission. The whole thing simply didn't make sense.

Forcibly pushing aside her concern for her missing friend, Shepard signaled her squad to press on. According to the blueprint, the Shadow Broker's inner sanctum was only a few airlocks down the main corridor.

Intellectually, Shepard had known that the Shadow Broker was a yahg. Hell, she had seen one on Sur'kesh during the mission to retrieve Eve for the jerk, Urdnot Wreav. What she didn't realize was that the yahg she saw back then was a runt.

Unlike the escapee, the Shadow Broker was a gigantic beast of a yahg. While wearing an expensive looking tailored suit and sitting calmly behind a large desk, this civilized trappings did nothing to disguise the aggressive nature their species was known for.

"Vasir has failed, I see. This is unexpected." The yahg's deep, gravelly voice grated on her nerves. He folded his hands together in front of his face in a casual gesture, looking unconcerned that his lair was being invaded and his private army reduced to a pile of bodies. "Reckless. I had thought your sense of self-preservation would be strong enough to override your misguided thirst for vengeance, Dr. T'Soni."

Shepard kept her pistol trained at the yahg's face. In the dim light, she could still clearly see rows of needle-like teeth in his triangular maw… And she just figured out what the Shadow Broker's red arrow icon stood for.

"My vengeance is justified. You've allied with monsters, Broker. Are you so naive to believe that the Reapers will spare you for your cooperation?" Liara hissed.

All eight of the yahg's eyes narrowed dangerously at her bondmate's accusation. "You understand nothing. You showed poor judgement when you handed Commander Shepard's body to Cerberus. I had thought better from Benezia's daughter." The Shadow Broker kept staring at Liara as he continued to address her. "Regardless, your arrival is merely an inconvenience. All you have accomplished is to waste my time."

Liara's lips curled in a faint sneer. "You are quite confident for someone with nowhere left to hide."

The Broker shrugged off her taunt and retorted with his own barbs. "You travel with fascinating companions, doctor." He fixed his eyes on Kasumi, his voice dripping with malice. "I'm obliged you brought along Ms. Goto. That graybox she's hiding is priceless. As for you, Ms. Gunn," the yahg turned to address Shepard, "you are invited to stay on my ship as an example to all. The prison block has been left empty for too long."

Shepard grinned widely underneath her full-faced helmet. It took everything she had to stop from bursting out in hilarity.

Liara, on the other hand, did not see the humour in the situation. Her beautiful face contorted in a vicious snarl at the blatant threat. "You're not putting a hand on anyone!"

"It's pointless to challenge me, asari." The yahg seemed almost amused by Liara's reaction. "I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark."

"Is that right?" Liara's furious expression morphed into a contemptuous narrow eyed frown while her voice acquired a silky, honeyed quality that gave Shepard the chills. "You're a yahg, a pre-spaceflight species quarantined to their homeworld for massacring the Council's first contact teams."

The fleshy frills on the Shadow Broker's head flickered in agitation.

But Liara was not done yet. Her eyes glinted in the dimly lit room like two torches of dancing blue flames; at this moment, she was all Benezia. "This base is older than your planet's discovery, which probably means you killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, then took over. I'm guessing you were taken from your world by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave… or a _pet_." Her lips curved into a cruel smirk while flagrant superiority oozed off her aura in seductive ripples.

Shepard watched, swelling with pride as her sweet and innocent bondmate verbally savaged the Shadow Broker like he was a particularly dimwitted child.

"How am I doing?" Liara closed with one last jab at the yahg's smarting ego.

He rose from his seat. Shepard had to look up to maintain eye contact as the yahg's towering height made itself known. And then the flimsy disguise of civility the Shadow Broker had donned was violently ripped off in one loud smack when he finally snapped and broke the massive desk in two with one slam of his fist. He then picked up half of the broken desk and tossed the hunk of twisted metal at the squad. Already prepared for an attack, Shepard was fast enough to tackle Liara out of the way.

Kasumi was not as lucky. One section of the broken furniture had bounced off the floor and smacked her in the head, knocking her out cold. Shepard and Liara both scrambled to their feet while the yahg let out a terrifying roar of pure rage. He then whipped out an assault rifle from his back and held it with one hand like it weighed nothing.

Liara didn't need further directions from Shepard. She bolted for the closest cover and dove behind it just as a spray of bullets rained down at her direction. Taking advantage of the Broker's undivided attention on Liara, Shepard pulled out her shotgun and fired off a lightning fast potshot loaded with incendiary rounds and slapped on a reave for good measure before rolling behind cover as well. Grunting from the pain, the Broker changed his target and fired at Shepard instead. But the moment he was distracted, Liara lashed out with a powerful warp and detonated the unstable biotic field surrounding him. The resulting explosion stunned him long enough for Shepard to unload her entire clip into his fizzing shields.

They did not give the yahg any room to breath. As soon as his shields came down, Shepard switched to the Phalanx and began methodically tearing down his armor.

Of course, the Shadow Broker was not about to go down without a fight. With a thundering howl, he activated an unknown device that formed a translucent layer of tech barrier that encased his entire body.

"The shield's kinetically sensitive! Energy and projectiles are bouncing off!" Liara shouted.

Shepard cracked her knuckles. "Then we do this the vanguard way." And she was off. She charged into the immovable mountain of armored flesh and drilled into his gut with her fist. The Shadow Broker doubled over from the pain, and Shepard used the opportunity to quickly landed two punches on his massive jaw. Her third punch, however, was met with a solid flash-forged Omni-shield. Bellowing out his challenge, the yahg brandished the large shield like a weapon and used it to bash her away.

With the Omni-shield in place to deflect fire, it was now significantly more difficulty to hit the Broker. Worse still, the brief delay was enough for his spare shield generator to kick into effect - they were back to square one.

Shepard decided that the best way to deal with the yahg was to employ liberal amounts of brute force. Instead of staying behind cover to chip at his defense from a safe distance away, the vanguard reaved through the Omni-shield and charged once more. The sheer momentum smashed the Broker's shield arm away from his body. While he was stunned again by the biotic explosion, Shepard pulled out her shotgun and fired rapidly into his gut.

Liara didn't stay idle during the exchange either. She timed her singularity to keep the Omni-shield away from the Broker's body while Shepard unleashed another devastating flurry of punches that had the hulking beast growling in agony. This physical pain somehow triggered a state of berserker rage in him. Ignoring the force from Liara's singularity through sheer physical strength, the yahg ripped his shield arm back in front of his body, and charged at Shepard like a runaway train.

For a second, Shepard had a flashback of being tackled by a Brute on Tuchanka.

But luckily for her, her reflexes picked up where her higher mental faculties had left off. She whipped out the missile launcher she had picked up earlier and took aim. The heavy weapon was proven to be too much for the Broker to handle. After two hits, his Omni-shield was broken. Shepard didn't wait for him to regain his balance and charged yet again, and this time, she held nothing back. The charge was followed up with two consecutive Nova blasts at the expense of all her shields. As the Broker staggered backwards from the blows, Shepard pulled back her glowing fist and punched as hard as she could.

Her punch had the Broker bent over with his hands bracing the floor. He could barely stay on his feet.

"Shepard, move!" Liara shouted urgently.

Not wasting a moment to pause, Shepard abandoned her weakened opponent and rolled away. A warp shot out from Liara's outstretched arm and hit the tempered glass above the Shadow Broker's head.

Crying out in exertion, Liara then proceeded to bring the entire ceiling down. The blinding torrent of electrical surges crashed through the startled yahg and lit him up until his entire body exploded in a shower of ashes.

Only vaguely did Shepard realized she had been knocked flat on her back until Liara offered her a hand to pull her up. The room's automatic failsafe had been activated to contain the excess electrical energy. Still, the smell of charred flesh and ozone was thick enough to make her gag a little.

Off to the side of the room, Kasumi stirred with a groan. "Did you get the number plate of the train that hit me?"

"Shadow Broker, this is Operative Murat. We have a momentary connection failure. Can you confirm status?"

Liara flinched at the comm station where numerous screens were flashing urgently as communications from the Broker's contacts poured out in streams of overlapping voices.

Shepard stayed silent. She wanted her bondmate to make up her own mind. In the original timeline, Liara had taken up the mantle and assumed the role of the Shadow Broker of her own accord. But that Liara had not lived the same life as this Liara. And the last thing Shepard wished was to force her bondmate into a mold she wasn't ready for.

A myriad of emotions flashed across Liara's young face. Anxiety, uncertainty, fear, even a sense of slight panic. But then, Liara closed her eyes and took a calming breath. When she opened her eyes again, there was only resolve. "This is the Shadow Broker. The situation is under control." Liara began.

Shepard didn't know it was possible to fall more deeply in love with Liara, but she did.

"We experienced a power fluctuation while upgrading hardware. It disrupted communication momentarily. However, we are back online. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day." Liara's expression was composed, and her posture radiated strength. "Shadow Broker out."

Shepard waited until Liara shut off the console before she spoke. "You don't have to, you know."

"But I want to." Liara clarified. "We need his contacts, his trading sources. We cannot afford to waste the entire Shadow Broker network if we want to win the war. With this, I can _finally_ help you. Shepard, I _need_ to do this. I can't just let you..."

"Hey." Shepard pulled her bondmate into a hug. "It's ok. I understand."

Kasumi cleared her throat. "Don't mind me. I'll just look around… over there. Oh, and I'll open the shuttle bay and let Tali know she is cleared to dock."

"Thank you." Shepard tried not to look too embarrassed. She had forgotten they weren't alone.

Kasumi waved them off and limped away to explore the rest of the ship.

 _One big bad down, more to go._ Beaming proudly at Liara, Shepard leaned in to kiss her soundly, putting aside all her worries for a hard-earned moment of peace.

x-x-x

"Get up."

Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau groaned in pain. The dull throbbing inside his head made him think he was suffering from an epic hangover, but after a moment's pause to orient himself, his eyes shot wide open in alarm. He hadn't gone out drinking last night - he had turned in early and stayed in his room in the barracks onboard the Arcturus station, in between assignments. Blinking rapidly, he looked around his surroundings with a sinking heart. As he had feared, he was no longer in his room. The subtle hum of engine clued him in that he was currently onboard a small transport vessel.

"I'm in my shorts." Joker felt the burning need to point this out to his abductor, who was grinning evilly at him. The pair of shorts he was in was exactly what he had worn to bed last night. He had also taken off his Omni-tool before taking a shower prior to going to bed. And now he was completely unarmed, and almost naked.

"I've noticed." The woman in an unmarked black hardsuit said nonchalantly. "Good thing you're so scrawny. You should see the other guy I had to haul. He's almost twice your weight."

Joker wasn't sure what to say to that.

The woman nudged a small suitcase towards him with a foot. "Here, your kit. Get dressed and we can get the briefing started."

Joker was then left alone in the room to change. He still had no idea what the hell was going on. Deciding that there was nothing else for him to do, Joker opened the suitcase to inspect whatever was available for him to use as a weapon.

The answer was: not much.

Inside the suitcase was various clothings and a pair of boots. Whoever prepared his kit didn't even bother to give him a fork to stab people with. Just clothes. Which, he supposed, was better than nothing. Fighting his way out in his shorts wasn't an option. Hell, fighting wasn't an option. The brunette who just admitted of kidnapping him from his bed looked as tough as Chief Williams. If he made her mad by attempting to inflict injuries with a kitchen utensil, she might just snap him in two like a twig.

Sulkily, Joker put on a set of blue and white BDU and laced up the black combat boots.

He missed his hat. What kind of monster would deprive a man of his hat? The inconsiderate kind, that's for sure.

Joker scratched the top of his head absentmindedly and hobbled out of the room.

The door opened to a small hallway. From the look of it, this ship was most likely a Kowloon class merchant freighter. Pretty much your run-of-the-mill civilian transport that everyone and their grandma could fly. If he could somehow hijack the control…

"Hey, over here." The kidnapper waved him over to a larger room that served as the ship's mess hall.

Joker slowly limped over, taking care to exaggerate his physical disability to appear harmless, and gingerly sat down on a chair he was pointed to, right next to two people he didn't recognize. He highly suspected that those two were also fellow kidnapping victims, judging by the wide-eyed look on their faces. The guy sitting next to him was built like a bear, but his demeanor made it painfully obvious that he was not a fighter. A short-haired woman of slight built sat rigidly in the third chair with her arms folded across her chest, frowning in barely contained contempt.

Standing at the far end of the room with her back leaning casually against the wall was a woman with short black hair wearing a form-fitting black catsuit. Joker didn't fail to notice that she had a heavy pistol holstered at her hip. Another kidnapper.

"Now that we're all here, allow me to start by offering a sincere apology. The manner of our invitation wasn't ideal, but it was necessary." The brunette in the hardsuit started.

Joker had to wonder what kind of sick game this woman was playing at.

The brunette addressed them each by name while making eye contact. "Flight Lieutenant Moreau, Engineer Donnelly, Engineer Daniels. You three have been drafted to be a part of a highly classified mission. Refusal is not an option. I am LC Hadfield, and my partner here is LC Rizzi. I know you must have a lot of questions, but please hold them 'till the end."

"Whoa-ho what?! Are you kidding me? You people draft me to run black ops? Have you seen me? In case you forgot to read my medical files - hello, I have glass bones!"

The big guy, Donnelly, also put his hands up in protest. "This has nothing to with me. I'm done with the Alliance. You can't send me packing with a pink slip one day, and then turn around to ask me to do your dirty work the next. I mean, I literally just got dishonorably discharged yesterday. You can't do this." His voice was gruff with indignation. The thick Scottish accent was verging on unintelligible. Joker had to really concentrate to understand him.

The female engineer, Daniels, tilted her head up in a petulant manner while glaring daggers at their kidnappers. "And I have already handed in my notice. Kenny and I have a pact. I go where he goes. You can't force me."

The woman in the catsuit let out a growl of frustration. She marched up to the brunette and said stiffly, "Mel, this is a mistake. They're complete amateurs. Just look at them. No way they can handle it."

"Tell me about it." The brunette who introduced herself as LC Hadfield agreed with a snort. "But orders are orders. Why else would they ask two N7s to babysit these three clowns unless it's for a very good reason?"

Joker straightened up in his chair.

"So you claim." Daniels huffed in disdain. "Far as we know, you guys kidnapped us. And you're just feeding us bull about some bogus Alliance mission. I don't buy it."

Donnelly looked torn.

Joker spoke up. "Hold it right there. You said N7? Like Commander Shepard, N7?"

Hadfield put her hands on her hips. "Yeah. So?"

"So prove it." Joker crossed his arms and leaned back into the seat, which both Daniels and Donnelly copied his gesture. All three of them were now staring at the self-proclaimed N7s expectantly. "I was the helmsman of the Normandy. I served with Commander Shepard for six months. Show me your dog tags."

Hadfield and Rizzi exchanged a look, shrugged, and pulled out their IDs from underneath their armor. "Happy now?" Rizzi asked with a long suffering sigh.

Joker squinted as he inspected their dog tags carefully; there was no doubt. Those tags were the real deal. He had seen the Commander walking around the crew deck with her dog tags hanging around her neck enough times to know what the genuine article looked like. Not that he was actively trying to commit the N7 logo on her dog tag to memory for any special reason, just that he was never going to admit he was guilty of checking out his CO's _assets_ whenever she was in her tank top. "Yeah. I'm good." Joker cleared his suddenly dry throat and fixed his eyes on the floor. The sight of the familiar N7 logo had invoked all the memories of his time on the Normandy and was now making his eyes burn.

"Wow. I didn't know you flew the Normandy. That's… I don't know what to say. Gabby and I were both on the _Perugia_ under Admiral Kahoku. We rode in as part of the Fifth Fleet reinforcement. That was damn fine flying you did. Saved all of our bacon. I saw the whole thing on a vid afterward. I wish I had the chance to watch Sovereign blow up first hand, but I was busy trying to prevent our Eezo core from an untimely implosion. You know what, the next time we're in a bar, I'm buying you a drink." Donnelly laughed good-naturedly while patting him on the back with his meaty hand.

Daniels was proven to be less easily distracted than her buddy. She frowned at the two N7s and moved the topic back on track. "Alright, so you are who you claimed to be. That's one thing out of the way. You haven't explained what you want from us. I understand this is all very secretive, but did you have to drag us from our beds in the middle of the night? Why didn't just show me the paperwork? You have to admit, this is looking very suspicious."

Rizzi rolled her eyes. "Exactly how many black ops have you been on? What about espionage training, no? It's easier to disappear you in the middle of the night than watching you guys flounder about and blow your cover. Besides, it's called black ops because we don't exactly keep paperwork. Just think for a moment. How important do you think you are that would require this elaborate deception involving two N7 elites? I'm not asking you to trust us. I expect you to use your eyes and ears and come to your own conclusion."

"Well, so what is it that you want from us? What's the mission?" Daniels asked.

"We were getting to that, but someone kept interrupting us." Rizzi narrowed her eyes.

Daniels toss up her hands and gestured for her to continue.

Hadfield cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "As I was saying, you three have been hand-picked to be part of this mission. Why? I cannot presume I understand what the Brass was thinking when they put your names down, but they always have their reasons. Donnelly, you said you got the pink slip. What's the charge?"

Donnelly scowled. "Insubordination."

"Why?" Hadfield pushed.

"Because nobody listened. They think they can just sweep the whole thing under the rug and pretend it never happened. Commander Shepard was right. Sovereign is a Reaper, and there're more coming. I don't understand how anyone can be so blind. I was at the Battle of the Citadel, and I helped with the clean up afterward. Our team helped compile damage assessment reports to recreate the battle for post-battle analysis. I can't stand how the Council, how the _Alliance_ could throw the Commander under the bus. She is a hero. She is not paranoid or delusional. I just got so angry."

Hadfield nodded, and turned her eyes on Daniels. "And you?"

Daniels pursed her lips. "I'm with Kenny. That's why I handed in my notice when they fired him. It's not right."

"And you, Lieutenant Moreau, flew the Normandy." Hadfield said to Joker while rubbing her chin in thought. "I think I get it now. Interesting. I see what's going on."

Joker stared at her. "What's going on?"

"Politics." Hadfield explained in one word. "In any case," she continued, "the first part of the mission is quite straightforward. For now, we are to cut off any and all contact with the outside world except with the cell leader - who will brief us on the mission parameter later."

"What cell?" Joker asked, thoroughly confused.

Rizzi waved her hand impatiently. "Black ops don't keep paperwork, and each operation is run independently of each other. The only thing we do keep is the code name of the operation, but never the details. The Brass may dictate the mission objectives, but it's up to the cell leader's sole discretion how it should be carried out. This mission is named Operation Neptune. We are the Neptune cell."

"Since you're not the cell leader, does that mean you actually have no idea what this mission is about?" Daniels asked, sounding a tad smug.

"Which is the norm when it comes to black ops." Rizzi explained calmly. "This is why we had to grab you in your sleep and confiscate your Omni-tools. We must ensure complete communication blackout until we rendezvous with the cell leader."

"Any chance you'll tell us where we're going, at least?" Joker asked.

Rizzi gave him a blank stare. "No."

"Aww."

x-x-x

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I got distracted. This chapter is a little longer because I couldn't find a good spot to break.

Mel and Susan are not OCs. Mel is, well, Mel. Incidentally, her twitter handle is De_MEL_Isher with an avatar of a fiery explosion in the shape of a "rock on" hand sign. She is one of my favourite character in ME3. I gave her the last name "Hadfield" in honor of the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. Susan is the nameless N7 Fury arguing with an Alliance Procurement Officer in the Silversun Strip. According to Wiki, her full name was Susan Rizzi. I believe someone on ffnet wrote an entire story about her.

EDIT: Fixed some typos. Thank you FatherJack82! I'll definitely give the fic a read.


	22. II-07: Jailbreak

Book II - Chapter 7: Jailbreak

"Shepard."

Recognizing her bondmate's voice, Shepard looked up from the array of holo-screens projecting out of Vigil's stubby mechanical head while gesturing her dismissal to the ancient VI. At her signal, Vigil turned off the screens and stalked away in an almost sulking fashion while muttering about being designed as a steward program, as supposed to a tactical simulator.

Shepard was pleasantly surprised to discover that Vigil was slightly better at running multiple streams of complicated simulations than Widget - something about compressed file vs fractal quantum computing. Tali had explained the difference to her enthusiastically in a rapid torrent of technical jargon that sounded mostly of gobbledygook. The young quarian had then promptly borrowed Widget from her for a system upgrade and had yet to return it. From the looks of it, Tali was well on her way to building her own little sidekick - _Chatika vas Paus_ , if Shepard remembered correctly.

They had stayed on the Shadow Broker's base for days, scrambling to take stock of all the contacts and resources before any agents could notice the change at the top. Even with the additional help from Tali and Kasumi (plus Widget and the chipper info drone), it would still take significant effort to fully utilize the Broker's existing network. They had made impressive headway in the short amount of time, but the sheer volume of information hoarded away inside the Broker's databank was staggering.

As an aside, it was simply breathtaking to watch Liara thrive in this arena. Her bondmate might not have a drell's perfect recall or a salarian's photographic memory, but she had an exceptionally analytical mind and a prestigious, innate talent to pick out patterns from within a jumbled yarn of chaos. Judging by Liara's capability alone, Shepard was confident the shy archaeologist would have no problem adapting to her new role as the kingpin of the underworld.

Expecting to see Liara smile chidingly at her for working too hard, Shepard grinned innocently at her bondmate, only to have her smile fall off her face when she saw Liara's expression.

Alarmed, Shepard shot up to her feet. "What's wrong?" she asked, as she quickly scanned the maiden for any sign of distress.

"I am very sorry, my love." Liara reached up and cupped her cheeks with both hands. "I found Jack."

Shepard felt her heart dropped through the pit of her stomach at the tone. "Please tell me she is alive."

"She is," Liara assured her quickly. "But she is in a precarious position. She was captured by Broker agents on Illium, and the Broker promptly sold her to the Illuminated Primacy for the hefty bounty on her head. She is currently being held in a high security prison ship controlled by the Blue Suns. I was hoping to negotiate for her release, but unfortunately I wasn't the only bidder."

Shepard closed her eyes and rubbed her face tirely. "Cerberus."

Liara nodded. "I read her file. I finally understood why you picked her to watch your back on Omega, Shepard. Cerberus should never be allowed to get their hands on her again."

"That's putting it lightly." Shepard combed a hand through her choppy red hair, annoyed and frustrated with the situation. "Liara, it could've been me. All the horrible things Cerberus have done to her, _it could've been me_. It was the early days of humans developing biotics. Most of the _accidental_ exposures at that time were intentional. Children, babies, even pregnant women were being disappeared. If my mother hadn't shipped me off to some backwater colony in the Verge, I could've ended up as another subject for them to torture."

"We _will_ get her out." Liara promised.

Shepard nodded in agreement before sitting back down on the couch, frowning at nothing as she tried to come up with a plan to spring Jack from Purgatory. Again. Jack really had some rotten luck. The hanars must have been really attached to that sacred moon she had vandalized. A one way ticket to the galaxy's most infamous private prison was normally reserved for the most hardened criminals, terrorists and slavers and the like - not vandals.

The objective might be the same - jailbreaking Jack from Purgatory - but the circumstances had changed beyond all recognition. Shepard's foreknowledge was completely useless now. Not that it was all that useful to begin with; she wasn't going to crash the ship and let all the convicts loose again. There had to be a better way.

Unfortunately, she was coming up blank.

"Got any suggestions?" Shepard asked. With Cerberus in the mix, she had no idea how the turian warden (what was his name again?) would react. She needed more information.

Liara sat down next to her and put a comforting hand on her knee. "As soon as I found out, I immediately reached out to Warden Kuril, the person in charge of the prison ship _Purgatory_ , but I was far too late. He had decided that Jack would fetch a higher price on the open market. According to the intel, this barefaced turian is greedy and controlling - no surprise there. I sent out a negotiator to place a bid - an exorbitant amount, ten times the original bounty, in fact - and then I was told I should up my bid because I wasn't the only wealthy client looking to purchase Subject Zero."

Right, _Kuril_ , the barefaced turian. She remembered that backstabbing rat bastard now. Shepard crossed her arms and scowled at the memory. "Let me guess: he is putting you and Cerberus against each other to start a bidding war."

"Precisely."

"Why can't it ever be simple?" Shepard complained, grinding her teeth at the unexpected set back. Pausing for a long moment of contemplative silence, she finally asked, "how long can you stall them?"

"Ten days, and no more. Kuril already set the date for the next meeting."

A thought came to her. "Did he specify the terms of the meeting?"

"Yes. We are supposed to come forward together, each with the best offer in hand and ready to pay. What are you planning? The prison ship is guarded by a contingent of fighters. You can't force your way in."

Shepard chuckled at the irony. She might not be able to force her way in, but she certainly had no issue forcing her way out the last time around. "No, sweetie, that's not what I had in mind. What am I gonna do? Crash the ship and let all the dangerous convicts go? I'll think of something less drastic. What I mean is, this Kuril guy is more devious than your average turian. I think he is expecting the Broker and Cerberus to spill blood over this. Doesn't matter which side wins the bid at the end, once the winner leaves Purgatory with their prize, the loser will attack. While we are busy fighting each other, the Suns will then swoop in to take advantage of the situation."

Liara gawked at her with an incredulous expression. "That… sounds completely evil. And entirely probable. Why didn't _I_ think of that?"

Shepard gave her a nonchalant shrug. "Double-crossers are tediously predictable. Expect the worse of them, and they will never disappoint. And don't beat yourself up over it, Liara. You're just starting. Spend more time looking into the movers and shakers of the galaxy, and you'll learn how they operate. You have all that information at your fingertips now. Give it another week or two. I trust you'll be a quick study."

"That is very good advice. Alright, I'll do that. So what's your plan then, if you expect treachery from both the Suns and Cerberus?" Liara looked at her expectantly.

Shepard scratched her head. "No idea yet, but I'll think of something."

Ten days was not a lot of time to pull off anything elaborate - which was probably why Kuril had set such a tight deadline. Upside: at least now she knew where the hell Jack was. On the other hand, ten days was a very long time for anyone to be trapped in that god forsaken place. Shepard tried not to dwell on what had happened the last time Jack was incarcerated, but it was an impossible task. Her only consolation was that if the worse had come to pass, well, she'd just have to settle for murdering the creeps who dared to touch her friend.

"Who is your agent, anyway?" Shepard asked, trying to work out multiple angles in her head.

"I've hired an information trafficker specialized in intermediary work. Quite the smooth talker, too, according to his dossier. He is a drell named Feron."

Shepard choked on her spit.

"Are you alright? Perhaps a drink of water?" Liara frown at her with obvious concern as she daftly picked up a glass of water and offered it to her.

"I'm ok, I'm ok." Shepard took the glass and drank deeply, taking a moment to catch her breath before she spoke again. "Just a thought - you might want to make sure Cerberus is not buying his loyalty on the side. No offense, Li, but I don't trust a smooth-talking info broker I'm not married to."

Liara giggled and moved to sit on her lap. "Who's the smooth talker here, Commander?"

Shepard pecked her lightly on the lips. "Why, that would most definately be you, Dr. T'Soni. I was ready to jump you right then and there when you tore the yahg apart with your words alone. That was _the_ sexiest throwdown I've ever witnessed."

"Oh stop, you're just saying that." Liara seemed quite flustered by the praise.

"Trust me, I'm not joking. You should've seen yourself - you were ice cold and smoking hot." Grabbing onto Liara's rear with both hands, Shepard sent her bondmate sprawling on the couch with one toss before pressing her full weight on top of her. The half moan half gasp rushing pass Liara's full lips was music to her ears. "But I think I like you best when you're silky smooth and dripping wet." Shepard whispered, her breath tickling Liara's sensitive undercrest like a feather.

To retaliate, Liara not so gently hooked her hands around the back of Shepard's head and pulled her into a demanding kiss.

Rocking impatiently between Liara's thighs, Shepard jammed a hand between their bodies and tore at the complicated buckles of her armored coat. It took forever to fumble her way through the many layers of clothes, but when she finally touched bare skin, time seemed to stop. She pulled back from the kiss to seal her lips around a fluttering pulse point above Liara's collar bone, all the while grinning at the involuntary trembles she coaxed out of her writhing body. Shepard's heart swelled with love when she felt the fingers tangled into her hair twitch and scratch lightly at her scalp to urge her on.

The warmth beneath her hands, the sweet taste of delicate, velvety flesh, the pleading, breathless way Liara called out her name… "Shepard!"

Here was where she belonged. With Liara by her side, she was finally home.

And everything was right with the world again.

x-x-x

As if being trapped on a ship as a passenger wasn't bad enough, Joker found the experience made a hundred times worse when he was deprived of his Omni-tools. The only silver lining was that Joker got to know Daniels and Donnelly - they were Gabby and Kenny to him now - quite well. On top of being excellent engineers, the two of them were funny as hell. Of the comedy duo, Gabby was the perfect deadpan straight man for Kenny's foil routine. Spending time with the two reminded him painfully of the good times onboard the Normandy. It had been the best time of his life. He doubted he could ever be as happy again.

Joker still refused to fraternize with the two N7 kidnappers. A man had to stand by one's principles and it wasn't like the two N7 were friendly either. Hadfield spent most of her time in the cockpit, and Rizzi seemed content simply sitting in a corner of the mess hall, staring at them broodingly the whole time. Like a creep.

Joker tried not to make eye contact.

Bored out of his mind, he spent most of his spare time silently stared out of the windows of the transport, waiting for something interesting to happen. His wish came true after a few days of travel when he spotted a familiar red planet. "I know where we are!" He declared excitedly to his new crewmates. "That's Mars! I don't need a chart to recognize that." He then paused for a second and asked, "why are we going to Mars again?"

Rizzi gave him a blank look. "We have one more pick up. Dr. Karin Chakwas..."

"You're not knocking her out and dragging her here against her will!" Joker was agast. He stared down the N7 Fury (who could probably break his legs with her mind), ready to back up his threat with his fists. Glass bones or no glass bones, he would not let anyone put a finger on the good doctor without putting up a fight.

Rizzi's eyes twitched in obvious annoyance. "Will you relax? We're not Neanderthals. Sit down before you break something."

Joker sank back into his seat and kept glaring daggers into the back of the woman's head.

"Is she the same Dr. Chakwas you were telling us about?" Daniels asked quietly.

Joker nodded his confirmation. "Yeah. She was the Chief Medical Officer of the Normandy. One of the best people I know. I swear, if they hurt her, I _will_ kick their ass."

Donnelly patted him on the back. "And we'll help."

"Ugh, please. There is no need to be dramatic." Rizzi massaged her forehead.

They docked shortly after. This was followed by an excruciatingly long wait time that seemed to stretch on forever, and was probably twenty minutes in reality.

At last, the airlock to the mess hall hissed open. Dr. Chakwas was here. The good doctor broke into a warm smile as soon as her gaze landed on him. "Hello, Jeff. It's been a while."

Joker limped over to give the woman a hug. "Oh man! Dr. Chakwas, it's really you! They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

Chakwas blinked at him, looking quite bewildered by his question. "Who did what to me? What do you mean?"

Hovering behind the doctor, Rizzi gave Joker an unimpressed sneer, just daring him to accuse her of doing anything improper.

Chakwas' Omni-tool vibrated, and Hadfield's voice came through. "Ma'am, we're cleared for take off. Ready when you are."

"I'm forwarding you the coordinates. The passcode is _Poseidon_." The doctor replied as she typed into the device.

Joker's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait, you know where we're going?"

"Not really. I'm merely a messenger." Chakwas replied with a faint smile on her face.

Joker gaped at her. "But, but that means you're in on this too!"

Chakwas gave him an apologetic nod. "In a way, yes. I know as much as is necessary."

"Come on, don't give me that. What is going on?"

Rizzi cut in before Chakwas had the chance to reply. "Back off, Lieutenant. Need I remind you this is not how classified info is disseminated? How did you even get through Basic?"

Realizing he was stepping over a line, Joker flushed an ugly red as he hastily put up his hands and backed away.

Chakwas interjected, "don't be so hard on him. I completely understand where he's coming from. This has been hard on all of us."

At that, Rizzi gave her a curt nod and wandered off towards the direction of the cockpit, but not before sending Joker a warning look first.

"That one has some serious anger issues." Daniels muttered under her breath. "Is that why her designation is called Fury?"

"Nah." Joker shook his head. "It means she is a really good biotic and her enemies should fear her. You know, like the saying, 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. At least that's what I heard from Commander Shepard..." He grimaced at the mention of Shepard's name. It was still painful to speak of his old CO. Pausing for a moment, he continued, "she's not wrong though. Sorry, Dr. Chakwas. I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that. I should've known better."

"That's alright." Chakwas didn't seem offended. In fact, she looked quite concerned. "What about you? Are you feeling alright, Jeff? Have you been seeing the therapist I recommended?"

Joker pouted, feeling quite self-conscious about the probing questions. "Yeah, I'll get over myself. And yes, I've had my head shrunken at regular intervals, so there's nothing to worry about. Really, I'm fine."

"Very well. Now let's get you some privacy so I can give you a quick check up. You have been taking all your medication, right?" The doctor asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at his pallid complexion.

"Yes, mum." Joker replied cheekily as he followed Chakwas out of the mess hall. Hadfield had been thoughtful enough to include his meds inside his field kit, so he hadn't skipped a day of his medication.

The next leg of the blind journey was almost as boring as the previous one, though having Chakwas onboard did wonders for his mood. Joker only realized now how much he had missed his old crew. He still had difficulties talking about his time spent on the Normandy, but somehow it felt different reminiscing with Chakwas than just remembering on his own. The doctor might not be a psychologist, but talking with her was cathartic. As a fellow survivor who had been part of Commander Shepard's crew since Eden Prime, Chakwas understood exactly what he had gone through. They shared stories with Daniels and Donnelly, who often looked part awed and part incredulous. Their reactions were so funny, it made him want to cry.

He did break into sobs a few times, but Dr. Chakwas said it was completely normal and was part of the healing process, so Joker tried not to feel too embarrassed about it.

A few days later, their ship stopped at an abandoned weather station somewhere in the Crescent nebula, where they picked up another passenger.

"Corporal Toombs reporting for duty, ma'am." The average-looking man with a severe expression spoke with a crisp salute. His face was scruffy with grey speckled stubble, and his grungy brown spacer suit looked worn and dirty from use. All-in-all, the new guy seemed like any other civilian deckhand who had lived a hard life out in the Terminus systems. Joker felt like he had heard of the name Toombs, but he was pretty sure he had never seen this person before.

Toombs extracted an OSD and handed it to the doctor. "Dr. Chakwas, same password. It's voice-locked. And everyone, please collect your personal items. We're taking a different ship. Flight Lieutenant Moreau, you have the helm." Toombs said and handed over the digital key.

Joker took the key with a massive grin on his face. He held his hand out expectantly toward Hadfield. "My Omni-tool, please."

"Can we have ours back too?" Daniels asked hopefully.

Hadfield dug out their devices from her pocket. "Sure. Just keep in mind you're still in blackout. That means no extranet activities. No emails, no surfing, not even to play Galaxy of Fantasy."

"Got it. I just want to put it back on my wrist. I feel naked without it." Daniels complained.

"I know exactly how you feel." Donnelly agreed.

They followed Toombs out on the dock and piled in on a Kodiak. After a short trip, they arrived at a fueling station where their next ride had docked; it was another Kowloon class freighter that looked almost identical to the one they had come in with. At this point, Joker had given up trying to understand how the black ops thought process worked; all the cloak and dagger seemed downright silly to him.

In any case, Joker was just happy to be back on the pilot's seat. "What are the coordinates, Dr. Chakwas?"

"Here."

Chakwas unlocked the file and sent the data to the ship's main console. A detailed star chart sprang up on the holo-screen with the exact coordinates marked out in red - their next destination was a facility located on a planet in the Faryar system of the Hourglass nebula.

Joker squinted at the start chart. "Alingon. Why have I heard of this planet?"

Hadfield and Rizzi exchanged a significant look, but it was Donnelly who answered. "Maybe because Alingon is a notorious ambushing site for pirates?"

Joker's jaw dropped. "Wait, we're driving a merchant freighter into pirate infested space?! I gotta ask; do we have any hidden weapons installed on the ship that I can't see from the console?"

Toombs gave him a noncommittal shrug. "I was told you were good for the job."

Joker palmed his face. "You've got to be kidding me."

x-x-x

Tela Vasir looked out the darkly tinted window and stared blankly at the streaking starlights. She had followed the instructions sent to her personal email address and boarded the unmarked Kodiak docked in the specified stall number in a busy commercial starport in Nos Astra. Her biometrics unlocked the console and the transport promptly took off to a preprogrammed destination somewhere in the Tasale system. Though she was sitting idle in the thinly cushioned passenger seat, her mind was running in circles.

Shepard was _alive_.

And judging by the elaborate ruse to secure a private meeting, the human wanted to keep that news under wraps. Shepard clearly had an agenda, but for the life of her, Vasir could not figure out what it was. Nobody, except for sociopaths and criminals, would fake their own death for fun. What did Shepard have to hide?

Vasir had not decided on what her reaction should be when she saw the woman again. Should she be ecstatic that her stubborn fellow Spectre had managed to cheat death again? Or should she be furious that Shepard had deceived the whole galaxy into thinking she had tragically gone down with her ship?

Either way, Vasir had decided she was going to punch the smug human in the guts as payback for cracking her ribs. No, no. She should slap her instead. That should be a sufficiently dramatic display to demonstrate how pissed off she was about the deception. Or perhaps a proper headbutt was required to fully convey her displeasure?

While Vasir was busy fantasizing violence against her previously deceased colleague, the transport's autopilot program quietly pulled the vehicle into the docking bay of one of many privately owned fuel depots dotting the Tasale system.

Her Omni-tool buzzed just as the docking clamps strapped down the Kodiak. _Meet me at the station office_ , the message read. The name of sender was left blank.

Vasir clenched her jaw and stepped off. _I'm perfectly calm._ She repeated to herself in her mind, but she could not control her steadily escalating heart rate with every step she took. By the time she stood in front of the airlock separating the hallway from the office, blood was roaring in her head.

Shepard looked exactly as she had remembered.

 _Not exactly_ , she thought, after taking a harder look at the human. Shepard looked thinner. Her choppy red hair had grown out an inch, and there was also a barest hint of slouch, like she was being weighed down by an invisible force.

"Hey." Shepard said, smiling wanly at her.

Vasir slowly approached the insufferable woman as her fists shook. "That's all you've got to say? _Hey_?"

Shepard gave her a startled look and replied, "I thought it's a standard greeting. Like, hey, how are you?"

Vasir growled at the redhead with her lips pulled back. "How about you start with an apology for making everyone think you're fucking dead? And then you can move on to what the hell made you think faking your own death is in any way a good idea. Huh? How about we start from there?!"

The infuriating human tilted her head, a bewildered expression slowly crept up on her face. "Oh."

"What?!" Vasir snapped at her.

Shepard just stood there, staring at her with her jaw dropped open in a clear show of surprise. After a long moment of stunned silence, she said dumbly, "I really didn't think you'd care."

A fog of purple _rage_ clouded her vision. Vasir bolted forward and punched the supposedly dead woman square in the jaw with a vicious right hook. The sheer force sent the redhead flying into a wall. "What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?!"

"Oww! Was that really necessary?" Shepard complained loudly as she picked herself up while rubbing her aching face. "Alright, alright! I'm sorry! If you must know, it was the last resort. I didn't do this for shits and giggles. I didn't even tell my own mother!"

"What last resort?" Vasir demanded.

"If I wasn't tipped off about the attack beforehand, I really would've died." Shepard's voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "They shot down the Normandy for one reason - to collect my corpse. You've seen what Sovereign did to Saren's still cooling body. Do you really want to see what they can do with mine?"

"Wait. Stop. _What_?!"

Shepard sighed and asked patiently, "what do you know about the Collectors?"

Vasir stared at the human, feeling quite disoriented by the sudden change of subject. "Very little. Why?"

"Indulge me. Tell me what you know of them."

Now feeling more than a little off-balanced from the tangent, Vasir crossed her arms with an indignant huff but complied with the request. "The Collectors are an reclusive race whose homeworld is located somewhere beyond the Omega 4 Relay. They are named as such because they are slavers who collect sapient species like objects. They are so rarely seem even in the Terminus systems that it is widely believed their existence to be a myth. That's all I know."

"What do you believe?" Shepard asked.

Vasir frowned at the question. "I've never seen them myself, but I've heard stories about them when I was a youngling."

Shepard tapped her Omni-tool and pulled up a screen. "This is security footage taken two days after Sovereign attacked the Citadel."

The vid showed a cramped warehouse stuffed full of captured humans. One side of the warehouse stood a gang of Blue Suns mercs - slavers, most likely. On the opposite side of the warehouse was…

"What the... I've never… These _things_ are the Collectors?!" Vasir recoiled at the monstrous beings that looked half-melted and thoroughly mutilated.

And then the footage showed a biotic shrouded asari - Aria T'Loak, the Queen of Omega herself - leaping out from nowhere and unleashing a flurry of biotic storm at everything that moved. Her subordinates followed her lead and slaughtered everyone who were not them. At the end of the battle, Aria picked up a discarded datapad from the ground and that was when Shepard paused the vid and zoomed in.

It was a list. Two dozen left-handed salarians. Sixteen sets of batarian twins. A number of human colonies and their population totals. And at the top of the list was _Systems Alliance Commander Jane Shepard, human_.

Vasir slowly looked up from the holo-screen as she frowned in concentration. _Collectors, an elusive race of monsters who collect organic specimens, and are strangely fixated on humans in general and Shepard in particular._

A sense of dawning horror seized her like cold fingers wrapping around her throat. With each added piece, an ugly picture was starting to form and it was more terrible than she was willing to believe. Vasir locked eyes with Shepard, hoping desperately that she was wrong. But when she saw the guilt and regret in those green eyes, she knew the horrible conclusion she had come to had been correct.

"Ariel, population 786. Disappeared without a trace. All human. That was only the beginning. I'm afraid the Reapers' grudge against me has brought my entire race into their crosshairs."

"It really is happening, isn't it? The Reapers are coming." In a corner of her mind, Vasir felt a flash of unreasonable resentment toward Shepard for giving her all that information. She missed the ignorant bliss. If not for her persistent pursuit of Saren, no one would have known of the Reaper's existence.

Shepard nodded gravely at her. For a moment there, Vasir could almost see the crushing weight of responsibility hanging over her head. "Humans might be the first to be targeted, but they'll come for the rest of us soon. Sovereign called itself the vanguard of our destruction. I didn't think it was being literal when I first heard it."

Vasir scoffed. "I should have known. Sovereign is a machine, of course it was being literal. When have you heard of a poetic AI?"

Shepard bit her bottom lip and looked to be stopping herself from laughing. Vasir had no clue why the human found the comment funny. There was nothing humorous about the entire situation.

"And their number will darken our sky." Vasir quoted. Her traitorous mind was already constructing the doomsday scenario while she desperately tried not to make herself feel ill.

"Yeah." Shepard sighed. "I hate to imagine what it'll look like; nightmare fuel, I'm sure. We could barely handle one."

"So what now?" Vasir asked with a defiant scowl. "I'm not going to meekly bend over and get fucked. You didn't fake your own death just to survive. You've been plotting; anyone with eyes can see that. You're wearing all that stress on your shoulders, it's affecting your damn posture."

Shepard's normally fierce aura was muted under the non-descript black armor she was wearing, but what little leaked out tasted calm and pure with the slightest edge of danger. Regardless her physical condition or the mental stress she was under, the human was every bit the superb Huntress if ever there was one.

And a Huntress must be patient. Shepard had plans. The question was how Vasir herself would fit in them.

"That obvious, huh." Shepard scratched the back of her head with a rueful smile. "I have been working on a number of projects to help with the war effort. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that since the Council has been less than helpful, I'm helping myself."

Vasir narrowed her eyes at the redhead. Something about the way Shepard said it made her think she had been _naughty_. "Is that why T'Soni has been tangling with both the Broker and Cerberus?"

At the mention of the young maiden, Shepard's expression darkened as she glared balefully at her. "Don't remind me. I'm still sore about that. You almost broke her neck!"

"Enough with the chest pounding. It's not my fault. I thought she was a traitor. How could I know she was playing double agent? And since we're keeping scores, I'll have you know that you cracked two of my ribs. Two!"

Shepard did not look even a little apologetic about that. "You're lucky I held back. Touch Liara again and I'll break more than just your ribs."

Vasir rolled her eyes at the threat. "Overprotective much? Fine, I'll stay away from your precious bondmate. You know, she'll have to fend for herself if she's playing in the big girl's league." She paused for a second, but curiosity finally won over, and she couldn't help but asked the question that had been churning in her mind for days. "Five days ago, the Shadow Broker was pretty adamant that your bondmate must die. And now they want to keep her alive because she is more useful that way. Dare I ask what exactly you've done to change their mind?"

Shepard's lips slowly curved into a lopsided grin as her entire countenance brimmed with mischief. "Two reasons: the impending Reaper invasion and our mutual disdain for Cerberus. The added fact that Liara didn't really hand my body over to Cerberus was proof enough to convince them of our position."

Vasir frowned at the human. "Does that mean you've revealed yourself to the Shadow Broker?"

Shepard shook her head slowly while grinning like a shark. "Not exactly, no. They thought I was Alison Gunn, ex-Alliance soldier, mercenary for hire. Liara gave the Broker a copy of several classified mission reports related to Cerberus during her stay on the Normandy. She used it as proof to reiterate her disdain for the pro-human terrorist group, and that she would've never allowed her bondmate's body to fall into Cerberus' hands. She convinced the Broker that the real body had been completely destroyed when the Normandy went down. They believed her when she told them that she knew the body was a fake, that the whole thing was clearly a scam to swindle credits from a grieving widow."

"I suppose that makes sense. So the body…"

"Cloned tissues. You can print that in a day or two."

Vasir refrained from rolling her eyes again. "Obviously. But it's hard to believe _Cerberus_ would just take the bait without question. I thought they would be less gullible than that."

Shepard made a vague gesture and added obliquely, "it was a _very_ convincing fake. Liara is still having nightmares about it. And we went through the song and dance on Omega to make the whole scenario believable. We even got Aria T'Loak involved in the ruse - unwittingly, I might add. Look, I don't expect to fool them forever. It's a delay tactic. I just need Cerberus off my back long enough so I don't have to keep looking over my shoulders while I'm busy dealing with the Collector problem. Though in my opinion, Cerberus has the potential to cause more damage than the Collectors do."

Vasir gave the woman a deadpan stare. "You think a human terrorist group is more dangerous than the Reaper's minions? Really?"

Shepard took the time to consider her words for a moment before she replied. "In a word - yes. I know it's a little hard to believe, but hear me out. To put it simply, Cerberus is evil. Their xenophobic, divisive ideology that puts humanity first at the cost of everyone else is detrimental in the face of the coming war. It's not just the organization itself that's the problem; it's what this type of selfish narcissism represents. As we are now, no single species can measure up to the military might of the United Prothean Empire at its peak 50,000 years ago. And look what happened to them. The fact of the matter is, against the Reapers, we only stand a chance if we work together. If every race is only out for themselves, then we're doomed."

"That is..." Vasir struggled to contain the surge of admiration bubbling in her chest. "That is unexpectedly insightful, Shepard. I'm actually impressed."

Shepard grinned at her - the same _fucking_ cocksure smile that Vasir had remembered so damn vividly while she had thought the human gone. "I'm flattered. That's high praise, coming from you. Now if only I can get the Council to _listen_ for once."

Vasir burst out laughing. "Yeah, right. Taking advice from a human they've been actively trying to discredit, that'll be the day. Shepard, just keep doing what you're doing. Without the Council holding you back, you can get so much more done."

"I can only do so much. We'll need their help eventually."

"Eventually, yes. But now you do what you can." Vasir said, recalling Jondum Bau's comments about stockpiling resources. "You are not as alone as you might think. Not everyone is swayed by the Council's misinformation campaign to gloss over the origin of Sovereign."

Shepard's expression softened to a guileless smile that made Vasir think of Thessia's oceans in the morning light. "I'm thankful for that. And speaking of support," the woman straightened up, her posture changed from relaxed to alert in an instant.

Even before the woman asked, Vasir already knew what her reply would be. How could she refuse her when she just got her back?

"I need your help."

x-x-x

Jacob Taylor wondered not for the first time whether he had made the right choice trusting Miranda.

"The package is _Subject Zero_."

The Cerberus officer in charge of the retrieval mission was Rasa, a caramel skinned woman with a no-nonsense attitude. She gave the room a sweeping glance to ensure she had everyone's attention before pulling up a mug shot of a gaunt young woman sporting a shaved head and a body covered in tattoos. If he squinted, he could make out sprawling lines of angry red scars snaking under the ink.

"Handle the package with extreme care. Subject is considered armed and dangerous at all times - what we're looking at here is, arguably, the most powerful human biotics in existence. Our job is to secure the package and safely deliver it back to base."

Package. Subject. _It._ Jacob frowned at the young woman's almost anorexic features and inwardly questioned himself why he was even here. He had signed up to make a difference, to do right by his conscience without being hampered by red tape and politics; Miranda had made it sound so heroic, so _romantic_. In comparison, reality seemed a lot messier than her recruitment speech.

Nonetheless, there was this certainty in Miranda's voice that intrigued him; the same conviction he had been chasing after, but always eluded him. Jacob wanted to be a believer. He wanted to put his faith on _something_ that was bigger than himself.

And then Miranda came along and handed him that _something_ on a silver platter. _Revive Commander Shepard and save the galaxy._ How could a man possibly walk away from that?

But what he was stuck doing right now seemed as far apart from _saving the galaxy_ as it could get.

Reconstructing Commander Shepard's body was a monumental task, Miranda had explained to him. All available sources had shown the Commander to be an exceptional biotics, easily one of the most powerful human biotics who ever lived. The problem was that Miranda was having difficulties generating the same level of biotic output from Shepard's revived cells. Perhaps there were minor errors in the cybernetic components, or maybe there were flaws in the regenerated cells. There could be a million and one reasons why, and Miranda needed access to another powerful human biotics to help her find a solution.

They needed Shepard to be at her peak and combat ready for the coming Reaper invasion. Anything less would be unacceptable.

Which came back to why they had to travel halfway across the galaxy to collect Subject Zero from a merc controlled maximum security prison ship.

"It seems excessive to dispatch a platoon of soldiers to retrieve one prisoner." Jacob pointed out.

Rasa's eyes drilled into his head with the intensity of a mining laser. "Jacob Taylor, the _stray_ our Miss Perfect picked up. Get it into your thick skull that I'm in charge of this mission. What I say goes. Don't question me again."

Jacob matched her gaze. "I am the Chief Security Officer for the Lazarus Station. Miranda considered this mission important enough that I should assist you in person instead of staying on the Station. I have every right to ask questions. Now, I'm asking nicely, so please explain why we need a platoon of soldiers to facilitate a peaceful transfer of prisoner."

Though fuming with anger, Rassa clamped down her jaw - a clear effort to control her temper before she could say anything she would regret later. "There is a distinct possibility we might need to take the package by force. The Shadow Broker is also interested in acquiring Subject Zero. We might be outbid." The woman finally admitted with gritted teeth.

"We are not breaking into a maximum security prison with one frigate and two dozen men."

"No, we're not. But we'll need to board the Broker's ship if they win the bid. And it's not one frigate and two dozen men. It's one frigate, one heavy cruiser, eight fighters, and over sixty men." Rasa smirked triumphantly at Jacob's bewildered expression and added, "General Petrovsky had agreed to aid me by stationing the _Malta_ at the closest relay. So why don't you kindly _sod off_? I know what I'm doing."

Jacob narrowed his eyes. He didn't know Rasa well, but he knew this woman must have proven herself to be given command for such an important mission. For all its shady connections, the Shadow Broker faction was not known for its martial strength. They had agents for wet works, yes, but not fleets of warships. Rasa's strategy seemed more than reasonable. Still, with the Broker involved in this mess, a simple retrieval job just got ten times more complicated.

"Back to what I was saying," Rasa continued with a faint sneer, "best case scenario, we win the bid and speed away with the package. We'll then rendezvous with the Malta and be escorted back to Lazarus station. However, if we lose the bid, we'll chase them towards the relay to be ambushed by the Malta. And then we'll board their ship to retrieve the package. Any questions?" She asked while glaring at him.

Jacob had to agree that it did seem like a solid plan. Rasa seemed competent enough; if Miranda really had anticipated a bloodbath, she would have asked for Leng to head this mission. Even though the urge to nitpick was strong, Jacob was not an ass, so he shook his head and resisted from picking a fight.

"Excellent. Taylor, you're coming with me to the meeting. I can bring one bodyguard, and you're it." Rasa glowered at him as she gave the order, obviously trying to provoke him, but Jacob simply nodded.

Seemingly satisfied by the lack of reaction as a show of submission, Rasa stalked away.

Jacob shook his head and wondered how he always ended up taking orders from alpha females.

x-x-x

Feron was sure this job was going to give him an ulcer. He stole an uneasy glance at his bodyguard and inwardly sighed.

The Shadow Broker only sent out Tazzik for _results_. The fact the salarian was here meant that some poor sod was going to die a very messy death. Feron feverently hoped that everything would go according to plan, lest he become collateral damage.

Why had he taken the assignment again? Oh, right, the pay had been too good to pass up, not to mention it was the right thing to do. If Cerberus thought they could bribe him into betraying the Broker, then they must be deluded. Who in their right mind would work for _Cerberus_ after seeing what they had done to their own species? The detailed dossier on the prisoner Jack the Broker had provided was illuminating in the most disturbing way.

Feron turned his focus on the two humans standing on the opposite end of the room. From the look of it, the two Cerberus representatives were spoiling for a fight. Why else would they be armed to the teeth at the negotiation table? Perhaps he shouldn't be one to judge; after all, people wouldn't pay _Tazzik_ for his honeyed words either. Personally, Feron couldn't see why this Subject Zero would be so important that the Broker was willing to sink this much resource into one human. His best guess was that his boss really wanted to mess with Cerberus. And that by itself had profound implications that could shake the galaxy.

At precisely 0900 standard time, Warden Kuril entered the meeting room with two guards behind him. Both Blue Suns mercs were carrying assault rifles, looking ready to blast any trouble maker to very small bits. "Let's begin," the Warden stated without wasting a moment for small talk.

"Greetings, Warden Kuril." Feron nodded courteously at the turian in charge of the prison and handed him a datapad. "As you have specified, I have come back with the best offer my client is willing to give."

"So have we, Warden." The female human representative interrupted. She came forward and handed her datapad to Kuril while shooting Feron a discreet, dirty look. "In fact, my superior has expressed great interest in repeated business. He admires the efficiency and ingenuity of your operation."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, human." Kuril spoke tersely. His disdain for humans was plain as day - an advantage to exploit in Feron's eyes. He studied both datapads intently for a long minute before handing them both back. "Interesting," was all he said. Feron could practically taste the pungent stink of greed oozing off his pores - if turians had pores.

"We are ready to match their bid, and add another five percent on top." Feron quickly added.

"We can do that, and more." The human female responded, just as quickly, even while her fingers twitched towards the heavy pistol strapped to her side. "Surely, the prospect of future business opportunities must count for something."

Before Kuril could respond, the ship's alarm began to blare urgently. "What the hell is that? I'm in the middle of a meeting here!" Kuril growled impatiently into his Omni-tool.

In the corner of his eyes, Feron noticed the male Cerberus bodyguard had his hand on his pistol as well, ready to draw.

A prison guard ran into the meeting room and reported breathlessly, "sir, there's an unscheduled arrival - salarian military frigate. They have a Spectre onboard. We have to honor the standing agreement with C-Sec and let them dock. They'll be here in two minutes."

 _Showtime._ Feron's eyebrows shot up in feign surprise. "What's C-Sec doing here? This is not Council space. And they've brought along a Spectre, too! This is _bad_."

Tazzik followed his lead and yelled at the Cerberus operatives with undisguised hostility. "I knew it! This is your fault, Cerberus! You lot have attracted the attention of a _Spectre_."

The female's complexion took on a distinct ashen shade at the mention of Spectre. "How could… I didn't… This, this has nothing to do with me!" She whipped around to address Kuril, panic plain in her eyes. "Warden, please. Can you do something?"

Kuril frowned at the human female, unimpressed by the vague request. "All of you, stay put and _do not_ wander off. I'll be right back after I deal with this distraction. Guards, stay with them."

"Of course," Feron agreed amiable before turning around to glare at the two humans. "I'm watching you two. Don't even think about any funny business or my pal Taz here will blast you into a bloody mess your own mother wouldn't recognize!"

Tazzik reinforced the threat by turning his body slightly sideway to show off the grenade launcher clipped to the back of his heavy armor. "Try something, I dare you, Cerberus scum."

"Easy." The human male said with his hands out in an open-palmed display of non-aggression. "We're all here to do business. We're not looking for a fight. I'm sure Warden Kuril will have everything sorted out in short order. All we have to do is stay put and wait. There is no need for violence."

"Whatever." Feron scoffed. "But I'm keeping my eyes on you."

And that was all he needed to do.

x-x-x

Two weeks. Two whole fucking weeks.

Jack curled her upper lip and growled as she stalked towards an empty corner of the mess hall with her tray of slop in hand. Hunched over slightly, she ignoring the throbbing pain shooting up the left side of her body and sat down on the floor with her back to the wall. Even without her reputation, her menacing attitude alone was enough to keep other inmates from crowding her space.

Scanning the room in constant alert, Jack ate quickly with her hands. According to the prison guards, utensils were for decent people, not criminals, though in her opinion, the guards were probably just tired of inmates shanking each other with plastic forks. This also explained the lack of basic amenities, like toothbrushes.

Honestly, Jack wasn't too fussed. At least they fed her here. The last hole she stayed in didn't have enough human food. All they had was this disgusting dextro shit for turians that was designed to mess up her insides. So it wasn't really her fault she busted out after two days.

This time, she was really fucked. What kind of paranoid bastard thought housing convicts in _space_ was a great idea? Fuck, they floated a guy as an example after a minor riot over a small stabbing incident. Apparently the Suns made mad credits off selling the inmates to _private interests groups_ \- fancy name for state sanctioned slaving operations - and every dead inmate meant loss revenue for the sickos running this ship.

That was what she was told, anyway.

To Jack, the Blue Suns' legal slaving operation was disgusting and twisted and an unlikely blessing in disguise.

After she was knocked out by a bunch of mercs in ugly white armor on Illium, she was stuffed to the gills with sedative. When she finally came to, Jack found herself inside a jail cell aboard a maximum security prison ship. The many helpful inmates screeched obscenities at her from adjacent cells, telling her in graphic details what they would do to _fresh meat_ \- to which, Jack was quite indifferent about. She might not have been able to fight her way out of the ship to sweet sweet freedom, but her biotics were stronger than everyone else put together. If the situation called for it, Jack was confident she could easily turn a few meatbags inside out even without her amp.

Jack knew how to defend herself, and more importantly, she was not stupid. Running with Grey had, unexpectedly, taught her a lot. Whereas once upon a time, Jack might've rammed head on into a fight, now she had learnt the value of keeping her head cool, her eyes and ears open, and her focus firmly on thinking ahead. The inmates were cash cows to the Blue Suns, and evidently, Jack herself was particularly valuable. If the guards would go so far as to not provide utensils and toothbrushes to prevent inmates from killing each other, they would most likely be very displeased if a riot were to break out. Growing up inside a cage, Jack understood better than anyone alive the deep seated hatred prisoners held for their jailor. So when a group of foul smelling inmates finally managed to cornered her after a few days, she used her biotics to snatched up a nearby guard (who had turned a blind eye on the attempted assault) and dumped him in the middle of the dog pile. Her would be assailants drew blood from the guard, and then they just sort of lost it.

It was win-win-win for her. Jack got to quietly slip away amidst the chaos, the shitty guard got the living snot beaten out of him, and the scumbags that tried to put their filthy hands on her were rewarded with solitary confinement for the next decade.

Jack didn't get away clean, unfortunately, though a bruised rib was nothing comparing to what she would have suffered otherwise. And now she had gained a reputation that ensured no one else got too handsy.

She still fucking hated the place. Why did she think it was a good idea to clash with the Shadow Broker anyway? Right, because Grey asked for her help. _So. Fucking. Stupid._ It was completely messed up just how much she was willing to do for someone she barely knew. She hadn't even seen Grey's face yet.

And the most fucked up part was that Jack couldn't even get angry at Grey. Yup, she wasn't even a tiny bit upset at all. All she felt was a vague " _well that sucked_ " after waking up in a cell with a lump on the back of her head. To be fair, Grey did ask her to check up on a salarian contact, but she didn't ask her to engage a dozen mercs without backup. It was Jack's own arrogance that had gotten her into this steaming pile of crap.

 _Well, that and crashing a weather station into a hanar sacred moon while high on drell jizz._

So when the alarms began to blare, the first thought that came to Jack was how she wished the noise would just go away so she could finish her lunch in relative peace. The guards looked a bit tense, but they didn't seem worried. A few inmates stirred restlessly at the noise, but seeing the guards strutting about with electric batons hanging off their hips was enough to keep them in line. Experience told her that those glorified cattle prods stung like a bitch. Besides, what was the point of trying? She couldn't run very far without a ship anyway.

Eventually, the noise stopped, and Jack went back to glaring at nothing in particular. If she wasn't going to die from good old fashioned violence because of the strict rules inside this hellhole, Jack was sure she was going to die from boredom any time now.

"Don't move. Don't speak. Blink twice if you can hear me."

Jack froze in place. She recognized that voice. Smirking evilly to herself, Jack blinked twice and felt a small weight drop into her loosely closed fist.

"Go towards E block. Switch it on immediately after you turn right."

Jack followed the whispered instructions without hesitation. With great difficulty, she managed to maintain the blank look of disinterest while inwardly cawing with glee. The item she was given turned out to be a personal cloaking device. As soon as she cleared the corner, she felt a light tap on her shoulder before another small item was slipped into her hand again.

"Put this over your ear and follow the map. Stay low. I'll open all the doors for you."

Clipping the slim visor over her ear, Jack saw a clearly marked path on the map overlay. Having a master thief as a friend was shaping up to be the best thing that could happen to a criminal. She had to stop and wait for Kasumi to hack the surveillance camera surrounding locked doorways a few times, but overall it was almost like a leisurely stroll in the park. Very soon Jack found herself inside an empty jail cell with a sealed airlock. If her gut feeling was right, she just figured out how they were going to get out of this place.

Kasumi de-cloaked and tossed her a breathing mask. "You'll need this."

"Fuck, if you get me out of here, I'm gonna eat your pussy so hard, you'll never crave dicks again." Jack muttered in breathless excitement as she put on the mask tightly.

Kasumi shot her a startled look and put her hands up defensively. "Whoa! Slow down girl. Just because you're dying of thirst doesn't mean I've gotta drink too."

"Alright, fair enough. Let me know if you change your mind 'cause I fucking owe you a big one." Jack didn't take offence from the rejection; she was entirely too pleased by the unscheduled jailbreak to let it dampen her mood. Besides, it wasn't like she really meant it. Expressing gratitude wasn't something she did very often, so it could only be expected that when she tried, she'd end up making all parties involved feel awkward.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Kasumi pulled up her own mask and signalled Jack to brace for impact.

Jack replied wordlessly by pointing at her prison issued rubber boots.

At that, Kasumi palmed her face before grabbing Jack around her waist with both arms. "This doesn't mean I'm taking you up on your offer. Just get your head out of the gutter and hold on tight," she said, and activated the built-in mag-lock function of her combat boots. "In three, two, one…"

The airlock flew open with a great burst of air. When Jack finally regained balance after the ringing inside her ears stopped, she found herself dangling halfway out of the cell, feet first. The only reason she hadn't rocketed aimlessly into the black when all the air exploded out of the cell was because the thief had kept a death grip on her forearm.

Jack looked down, and the familiar sight of the salarian stealth frigate below her almost brought tears of joy to her eyes. Freedom was so close. The absolute silence of the void at this moment was the most peaceful Jack had felt in a long time.

Kasumi pulled on her arm to get her attention. With the life support disabled inside the cell, the mass effect field for the artificial gravity was also shut off. With the help of an air propellor attached to her belt, Kasumi effortlessly dragged her to the rear of Enigma where they climbed in through a maintenance hatch.

Her escape took about ten minutes, but it felt much longer than that.

"I can't believe you guys came to bust me out." Jack tore off the mask and lay down on the floor. With a groan of exertion, she flopped over to her hands and knees and kissed the metal grates lining the hanger bay floor. Now that she was free, all the tension had drained out of her, making her feel more exhausted than ever.

"Don't celebrate yet. We're not in the clear. No until Sh… she comes back." Kasumi said, offering her a hand to pull her up.

That got her attention. With a fresh burst of adrenaline rush, Jack jumped to her feet. "What do you mean? Where's Grey?"

Kasumi gestured her to follow.

The quarian, Tali, was sitting in the pilot's chair and staring intently at the holo-screen when they arrived at the cockpit. It was streaming live helmet-cam footage of a heated argument between an bossy asari in heavy armor and a barefaced turian dressed in the Suns' colour.

"Shit, that's the Warden!" Jack easily recognized the beastly mug. The very first day she got locked up on that ship, the guards made sure all the inmates knew the face of the god that was in charge of the place.

The heavily armed asari was not the least intimidated by the Warden. Her stance showed undisguised hostility and contempt.

" _Which part of 'Council Business' don't you understand? Subject Zero is pertinent to our investigation regarding terrorist activities. If you wish to keep your little side business running unimpeded, you_ will _hand her over,_ Warden _."_ The asari spat out the much feared title like it was an insult.

Jack's eyebrows rose up in surprise. After spending two weeks inside Purgatory, it was gratifying to see the barefaced turian knocked down a peg or two. "Who the hell is the asari?" She asked, looking at Kasumi for answer.

"That, my friend," the thief replied cheekily, "is Tela Vasir, a veteran Council Spectre."

Jack gawked at Kasumi in disbelief. "What the actual fuck?! A _Spectre_?! How in fuck's name-?"

Tali interrupted her mid-rant. "Please, not now. I've sent out the signal. They're coming back."

Jack turned her attention back to the screen.

The Warden looked unfazed by the Spectre's blatant threat to shut down his operation. " _You are forgetting where you stand,_ Spectre _. This is the Terminus systems. The Council has no power here. You've overestimated your self-importance if you think you can waltz in on_ my ship _and make demands. You want Subject Zero, I suggest you get in line. Submit a bid. Hell, throw in a blow job on top, and I might consider it."_

Tela Vasir looked absolutely furious. Ever part of her screamed aggression, but she had somehow managed to restrain herself from slinging biotics. Jack was impressed. " _This isn't over yet. Mark my word."_ The asari tossed out one more parting line before she whirled around and marched back towards the dock. The angle of the camera turned a second later to follow the Spectre out, and Jack didn't miss the triumphant smirk on the Warden's smug face.

"Ok, we're leaving." Tali let out a cheer and began the take off sequence.

Twenty seconds later, and they were flying away from the awful prison ship for the last time.

Plopping down heavily on a seat in the bridge, Jack finally let out a relieved sigh when the ship entered stealth mode. She was still recovering from the shock that they had actually busted her out of the most secure prison in this side of the galaxy. "Fuck, you guys are crazy. I need a drink."

"So _this_ is what I risked my neck for? Can't say it's much to look at." Purred a velvety voice from behind her.

Jack turned to glare at the two newcomers. The asari looked intimidating enough in person, but it wasn't so much about her look, or the fact that she was a freaking Spectre. Tela Vasir's very presence was enough to set Jack's teeth on edge.

"Come on. Do you have to pick a fight every time you meet someone new?" As soon as the second person spoke, Jack knew it was Grey. The Boss Lady was standing at the entrance to the bridge with her hands on her hips while dressed in full C-Sec hardsuit. In hindsight, it was stupidly obvious Grey was the one wearing the helmet-cam. Who else could it be? "Jack is a biotic. She can sense your aura trick, so quit it."

The asari pouted petulantly at Grey at the mild rebulk. A pouting Spectre. Fuck. Now Jack had seen everything.

"Right." Grey walked up and gave her a discreet once over. "How are you holding up? That bruise looks pretty nasty. We've got medi-gel in the infirmary."

The way Grey said it made her think she had some idea what it was like, being locked up and surrounded by stinking lowlifes with zero self-control. She was attacked but nothing came of it, and it wasn't like she hadn't had way worse, so Jack shrugged nonchalantly at the question. "Nah, I'll live. Is there a toothbrush around?"

"Toothbrush?" Grey repeated dumbly.

"Yeah, the shit you clean your teeth with."

"Um. Check the cabinet under the bathroom sink."

"Perfect." Jack slapped Grey once on her shoulder and went off to search for the thing she missed the most for the past two weeks - basic human decency.

 _It was good to be back._

x-x-x

A/N: Rasa was the identity Maya Brooks assumed during her stint working for Cerberus. She was featured heavily in the Mass Effect comic books. Again, this chapter is longer than usual because I can't find a good place to break.


	23. II-08: Alison Gunn

Book II - Chapter 8: Alison Gunn

Miranda didn't bother to look up from her workstation when she heard the soft chime at the door; she knew exactly who it was. Everyone on the station knew not to bother her with frivolous nonsense when she was working in the privacy of her own office. The only person with a standing appointment with her was Jacob, who was due back from his assignment more than two hours ago.

"You're late." She said, not really expecting a reply from the ex-Alliance.

"I'm lucky I made it back at all."

That got her attention. Miranda paused and looked up over the edge of her monitor to regard her visitor for the first time since he arrived. Her jaw dropped once she took in the sorry state he was in. Jacob smelt of smoke and sweat. There were scorch marks, spiderweb cracks, and dark splotches of blood staining his torn hardsuit. His face was swollen with overlapping bruises, and the lines between his brows were set in a deep scowl. He walked gingerly with an obvious limp while his right arm was secured in a sling. The patch job was no doubt the work of a field medic. It seemed Jacob had come straight to her office before he visited the station's medical bay to receive proper treatment.

Miranda felt a flash of concern for her friend as well as a stab of frustration at the unexpected sight. Failure was unacceptable, but it seemed it was all she had managed lately. "Subject Zero?" She asked, holding out a sliver of hope that he had at least completed his mission.

No such luck.

Jacob stared blankly at her, most likely inwardly cursing her out for asking the obvious. "What do you think?"

Slowly letting out a sigh, Miranda took a moment to restrain herself from snapping at him. What was done, was done. It would be pointless to raise her voice. "Are you going to brief me, or are we going to play twenty questions?"

"It was a complete shit show." Jacob sighed tiredly as he sank into the armchair in the corner of her office.

Miranda pretended not to be bothered by his presumptuous behaviour. That was _her_ reading chair, damn it. If she had wanted to invite him to sit in it, she would have already done so. But since he looked like he was ready to keel over, she would overlook it just this once. "Spare me the dramatic re-enactment. Get to the point, Jacob."

"I get it. To put it simply, we were out-played. We came in with a solid plan and an excessive amount of firepower. Hell, enough to sink a cruiser if it had come down to that route. But then a Spectre showed up in the middle of the negotiation and wrecked everything."

 _Why would the Council get involved in the Terminus systems?_ Miranda raised a finger to interrupt him. "A Spectre? Which one?"

Jacob shook his head, grimacing a little as this simple movement caused added discomfort to his much abused body. "No idea. We were locked in the conference room the whole time, along with the Broker's agents. After the Warden came back from his meeting with the Spectre, the Broker agents made some excuses about not wanting to get on the Council's bad side and left as soon as they could. I should've known something was wrong right then." His lips curled in disgust at this part of the story. "I can't tell you who wielded the proverbial knife, be it the Broker agents, the Warden, or the Spectre, because the strike came at our back. I didn't see it coming at all. Here is the sequence of event; I'll let you be the judge."

Miranda leaned forward, frowning at him impatiently.

"The Warden was clearly unhappy that the bidding war was cut short since the Broker side pulled out of the negotiation, but he conceded that our offer was attractive enough that he was willing to complete the transaction. We were told to sit tight while they prepped the prisoner transfer. It was an unusually long wait, and that's when I started to suspect foul play. When the Warden finally came back, he came with at least a dozen armed guards. I didn't get the chance to ask what we had done to piss them off before they started shooting. We were captured in short order. He called us thieves. I had no idea what he was talking about. The Warden didn't like my answer, so he tried to beat a different one out of me. The only reason why I made it back was because General Petrovsky showed up with the _Malta_ and threatened to blow a hole in their hull before they get the chance to launch their fighters.."

At this point, Miranda's lips were pressed so thin together, they might as well disappear entirely. "This is... unacceptable. Where the hell is Rasa?"

"She's at the med bay. They roughed her up real bad. I don't think she's waking up anytime soon."

"Damn it." Miranda cursed. After a pause, she asked, "the credits?"

Jacob half smirked, half cringed at the question. It was an unusual expression for him to wear, but Miranda didn't mind the look on his face. "We still have it. Rasa locked the datapad before they got her. They made her pay for it though. Savages."

 _Curious._ Miranda silently chewed over the details in her mind. Even though the Warden was the one who attacked them, it would be premature to assume that the Blue Suns were solely responsible for this mess. For all she knew, they could have been under the Spectre's influence, or they could have reached a separate deal with the Broker and were acting on their behalf. The Warden's accusation of theft could be genuine, but it also had an equal chance of being completely fabricated. Jacob was right. They were out-played.

"You should go to the med bay, Jacob."

Jacob nodded and slowly rose from the seat with a pained grunt. "For what's worth, I'm sorry I let you down."

Miranda didn't say a word as she watched the ex-Alliance limped out of her office.

It really shouldn't have surprised her, Miranda reflected. Cerberus had many enemies. One could argue that it had always been Cerberus vs the whole galaxy. As humanity's champion, Cerberus bore the brunt of backlash against all the other species who thought they alone had the right to rule. It didn't matter if it was the greed of mercenaries, the hubris of the Council, or the machination of the Shadow Broker. They were all but another hurdle to overcome in order to complete her life's work. Commander Shepard needed Miranda to bring her back to life, and the world needed Commander Shepard to continue its fragile existence.

Failure was not an option.

Without Subject Zero on hand to provide samples, it would take more fiddling to calibrate the Commander's biotic output to its optimal level. Miranda would have to dedicate more time and resources to biotic research. Money was not an issue; the Illusive Man had basically drawn her a blank cheque in exchange for their pet Hero of Elysium. Perhaps she could accelerate their process by stealing from the Alliance's own biotic initiative in Grissom Academy. Cerberus already had a few informants in place, after all.

One thing Miranda still couldn't get over was letting Subject Zero slip by her when they met on Omega. With the unlimited resources the Illusive Man had pledged, time became the major limiting factor to the success of the project since no one was privy to the exact time table the Reapers operated on. If the machines invaded in force before Miranda could revive humanity's greatest weapon, then all her hard work would be for nought.

The Lazarus Project was still in its infancy, although it had already shown some promising results. The successful reinvigoration of withered muscle tissues was one such example. Already, forty percent of Shepard's heart was functional. Other organs were at about twelve percent mark, the brain was at less than five, but Miranda was optimistic of the progress so far. Top of the line cybernetic implants and synthetic materials would be installed to enhance what evolution and genetic engineering could not accomplish on their own. When her work was complete, the newly resurrected Commander Shepard would be a flawless amalgamation of inorganic efficiency and organic adaptability - the best of both worlds.

And when the new and improved Commander Shepard finally opened her eyes to embark on her second life, it would be the moment Miranda had truly surpassed her own father by accomplishing what he had failed to do - create perfection.

x-x-x

Going back to Omega was not an option after Jack's jailbreak, so Shepard had to switch to a different hideout for the next phase of the operation. This move scrambled her original schedule, and it also forced her to think on her feet. Eventually she would need to revisit the ancient space station once she had more squadmates who did not have a bounty on their heads.

Shepard didn't know how Cerberus had pried control out of Aria's hands the last time around since the Pirate Queen had been far too cagey to ask for her help. Instead, she decided to leave it to the new Shadow Broker to keep watch of the situation. From what she could see, Liara had taken her new role as spymaster like a fish to water. In her opinion, there really wasn't anyone else she trusted more for this job.

From what she remembered, Cerberus had eventually located the Shadow Broker ship sometime during the long 6 months Shepard had been incarcerated on terrorism charges. To evade capture, Liara had crashed the giant hunk of metal into the pursuing Cerberus cruiser as a mean to escape. Nevertheless, since Cerberus hadn't found the ship yet this time around, it would do for now, as a temporary measure.

"Here, take this." Shepard handed a datapad to Jack, who had been napping in Enigma's cargo bay on a thin blanket underneath a canopy of netting and ropes. The escape convict had been doing nothing but eating and sleeping in her cozy self-made nest for the last two days since she got out. It didn't take a genius to imagine what kind of living conditions Jack had been subjected to during her stint in the galaxy's most infamous maximum security prison.

"What's this?" Jack rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she flicked on the data pad. A brief minute went by before she sat up from her previous slouching position. "Where did you get this?!"

"Liara stole it straight from Cerberus, of course. That's everything she could find regarding _Subject Zero_. I thought you might be interested."

"Shit. Blue's got balls, stealing from Cerberus."

Shepard smiled under her recon hood and walked toward the elevator.

"Wait."

"Yes?"

Jack gave her a slow nod. "... thanks."

"I didn't do much, but you're welcome."

"Hey." Jack stopped her again just when she was about to walk away. Shepard waited patiently, knowing how difficult it was for the anti-social biotics to verbalize her feelings. "Really. Thanks."

The conflicted look on Jack's face told her the younger woman still had more to say, so she stayed a little longer.

Eventually Jack cracked. "Can you… can you take off your mask?"

"You want to see my face? I thought you said you didn't care what I look like."

"I still don't care, but I want to. Fuck, I'm not making sense." Jack scowled like she was disgusted with herself.

"No, I understand what you mean." Shepard didn't mind. She had been waiting for Jack to make the request for a while. Their friendship had always hinged on Jack's trust in her. Only when Jack considered her a true friend would she want to see her face, to really get to know her. By then, Jack wouldn't care if she had three eyes and four nostrils. It wouldn't matter the least.

Shepard took off her recon hood with one smooth tug. Her choppy red hair was a little unruly from sitting under the hood for so long, so she combed the short strands back with a hand to get them out of her eyes.

Jack stared.

After a long moment, she finally found her voice again. "Damn, I had my money on you being a blonde. You know, 'cause you wear that mask all the time. I thought you were just ugly and vain and didn't want people to look at your mug and be all judgemental and shit."

Shepard couldn't help but smile. "Ouch."

Jack smirked at her, the initial shock seeming to have worn off. "So, the legendary Commander Shepard, not dead."

"Still breathing."

"And Blue is totally in on it."

Shepard nodded. "So are a select few, yes. You're the first new blood I've brought on board. The others are old friends. After all we've been through, I figure you deserve the truth. So there. Not dead, and most definitely, not blonde. I won't apologize for the deception. My survival has to be kept secret, otherwise we'd be dodging Collectors until I'm _really_ dead."

"Ah." Jack made a small noise, but she didn't react much to her reasoning. At least it looked like the younger woman understood though, which was a huge weight off Shepard's shoulders. She didn't want Jack to freak out.

It helped that neither of them were drama queens, unlike a certain asari Spectre who had to sock her in the jaw after the very reasonable explanation.

"So the body Blue gave to Cerberus…"

"I wonder how much credit Cerberus is going to waste bringing a dead clone back to life. Miss Lawson is going to be spitting mad when she finds out." Shepard said, grinning evilly at Jack.

At the gleeful but slightly confused expression on Jack's face, Shepard added helpfully, "Miranda Lawson, the Cerberus operative we've met on Omega."

"Oh, the porny cheerleader who looked like a blow-up doll. Gotcha."

Shepard couldn't help but wince at the description. Miranda would warp Jack through a wall if she ever hear that in person. _What does porny even mean?_ In fact, she distinctly remembered having to stop the two from ripping each other's throats out before they jumped through the Omega-4 relay the last time around. "Your words, not mine."

"Come one, you'd have to be blind to not see those perfect tits and ass when they're exploding out of her clothes."

"It's not polite to stare. And I don't think you can criticize other people when you're practically topless all the time. Let's also not forget you have _indecent exposure_ on your criminal record. May I suggest a wardrobe update? What's wrong with the commando leather I got you?"

Jack scowled. "Yeah? News flash, I got no boobs. There's nothing interesting to see here. And the leather is too hot. I got all sweaty wearing that thing last time. The cheerleader's catsuit is so tight she might as well be naked. Don't tell me you didn't notice her rack." She said, while miming exaggeratingly to show the bounce.

Shepard chuckled at the vulgar gesture. "I did. But I'm happily married, so I try not to pay attention." Some attention, maybe, because it was physically impossible not to. Though not too much attention. Honest.

Jack gave her a strange look. "Right, you and Blue are married. Huh."

"It's been rough, as you can imagine, but she puts up with me." The familiar warmth (and ache) in her chest when she thought of Liara brought a rueful smile to her lips. "And speaking of which, I got some intel from her just now. Kasumi and I have a mission lined up. We'll be gone for a while."

The sour expression on Jack's face made it obvious that she was not happy to be left behind. "What about me?"

"I need you to watch our back. Liara and Tali are too distracted from their work to spare the attention. Remember, technically we're in the middle of burglary. Just because nobody noticed, doesn't mean we should let our guards down."

It didn't take much to convince Liara to gut all Broker assets from the ship and relocate them to Enigma. Cerberus might be able to locate a ship orbiting a ruined planet, they would have a much harder time locating a phantom ship that zipped around the galaxy while under cloak. Besides, the Broker ship could now serve as a perfect decoy.

Shepard didn't want to admit it, but one of the major reasons for the location change was because she was not doing well without Liara for long stretches of time. In a literal sense, she was incomplete without her; her mental health demanded that she take refuge inside her bondmate's mind on a regular basis. No matter how strong her will was, her brain had been scrambled multiple times by alien technologies that no one fully understood. On top of that, she had fought through a losing war before being sent back in time only to do it all over again. It was miracle enough that she was functional after such ordeals. Shepard was not proud to have to use Liara as a crutch, nonetheless she also could not afford to be too prideful to deny help when she needed it.

This stopgap measure was far from ideal, she knew that, Liara knew that, too. But it was not like Shepard could stroll in a psychiatrist's office to seek treatment while pretending to not be herself.

"I can play bodyguard." Jack said, smiling a little with her chin held high.

Shepard blinked at the almost puppy like, eager-to-please look on her face. It was a bit startling to see such open expression.

Jack looked happy.

"I'll leave them to you. We'll be back in a week or two."

x-x-x

"You know, you should tell me what Liara likes. I need to get her something nice from Donovan Hock's vault to show my appreciation." Kasumi sighed happily with one hand over her heart and another on the steering wheel of a luxury skycar she had somehow procured.

Shepard chuckled at the comment. "I think after taking over the Broker's empire, Liara is not lacking of anything material. The daily tribute she gets from doing absolutely nothing is already staggering."

As it turned out, the previous few Shadow Brokers were all hoarders of information, credits, and material goods. Not only did they regularly demand gifts from people they extort, they had set up a complicated network of drones to deliver the goods to be stored in giant warehouses across the galaxy. A portion of it was even sent to the Broker ship every day, of which Shepard had no idea why the yahg would need all that stuff for. Liara had been beefing up communication hubs and tweaking the network in preparation for the coming war with Shepard's help. In the event of an all out invasion, defense only lasted as long as supply. The reverse was true as well. Which was why there were currently hundreds of Broker agents establishing foxholes filled with supply cache for space-age trench warfare in all major populated worlds. It probably raised a few eyebrows to see a sudden rise of doomsday preppers, but in light of the recent geth attack on the Citadel, this strange trend also didn't raise much alarm.

"It's the thought that counts, silly." Kasumi teased, grinning winningly at her. "You have no idea how much it helps to have the blueprint of the mansion. I've been trying to get my hands on it for ages."

"I would think getting a spot in the Eclipse's rank is more useful." Shepard said, rapping the white circular logo painted on the chestplate of her black hardsuit with two knuckles. The thick waterproof makeup to disguise her features was a bit itchy under the helmet, unfortunately. But at least she didn't have to wear a wig. Temporary hair dye was enough to cover up her signature bright red hair. Better yet, she only needed to fiddle with the setting in her Omni-tool and turn up the red to change her eye colour from green to a dark yellow. No contacts required.

The end result was a sullen pale woman with no freckles, a head of short jet black hair, and a pair of unnerving sharp amber eyes like that of a bird of prey - Alison Gunn, ex-Alliance Staff Sergeant who had gotten herself Cat6'd because of a history of insubordination and disorderly conducts brought on by unstable L2 implants. She looked nothing like Commander Shepard now.

Kasumi really had done a great job forging this identity. Even Liara had to stare at her disguise for a solid minute before she recognized her. To say her bondmate was perturbed by the change was an understatement. Shepard had to promise to change her eyes back to normal as soon as possible. The cold amber eyes had really rattled Liara for some reason. She wondered if that was why Liara had avoided looking into her glowing red eyes the last time around until Dr. Chakwas fixed her. Waking up from the dead while resembling a half-melted Terminator did terrible things to her self-image.

"For you, sure. It's not my style though. Regardless, it makes the job so much easier. You get to walk around like you belong."

"And do so while armed." Shepard added. "Yeah, I'll help you pick out something from the vault."

The plan was simple. Shepard would walk around the mansion and mark out all the important locations during her scheduled patrol as an Eclipse mercenary hired to guard this place, while Kasumi would direct her to gather pieces required to unlock the vault.

"You the new guy from Illium?" Roe, the chief security officer of Hock's mansion, stopped Shepard when she entered the guard's quarter and gave her a slow once over as if trying to find fault in her impeccably maintained hardsuit and service pistol. Unlike most guards, Roe's hardsuit was a distinct white with black markings to show her status as the leader of the gang.

"Yes, ma'am. Alison Gunn reporting from Nos Astra chapter. Captain Enyala sent me." Shepard replied smoothly.

Roe's already thin lips turned downward in a displeased frown. "Took her long enough. I've been waiting for days. And I don't care who sent you. You report to me now, maggot. Your ass is mine if you fuck up."

Shepard straightened up in a show of acknowledgement. "Understood, ma'am."

And that was the end of scrutiny from within the Eclipse ranks. She was then assigned a shift and given a password for the day that could bypass most doors.

They picked a good day for the heist. In addition to being a ruthless criminal and an ardent art collector, Hock was also an unrepentant social butterfly. With a rowdy party of over one hundred guests on, Shepard was practically invisible in her black Eclipse hardsuit. Liara's agents had outdone themselves by inserting her name seamlessly into the guard roster.

Under cloak, Kasumi was let in through a window in one of the many bedrooms on the second floor.

"You could have followed a guest in through the front door, you know." Shepard said as she locked the window back up.

"And risk drunk party goers spilling their expensive champagne all over my clothes? Not a chance."

"Fair enough."

The entrance to the vault was not exactly well hidden. Shepard had a feeling that a bragger such as Hock liked to display his wealth by showing off his collection to trusted friends.

"Kinetic barrier, DNA, password, and voice lock. I'm getting tingles. I bet this is the right place." Kasumi said slowly while examining the hardware with her head slightly tilted to the side.

"I can get DNA samples from his room. As for voice lock, we only have to stand around with an Omni-tool out for a little longer. The guy is in love with his own voice. And I've got a password handed to me by the chief of security. Plus, if we cut the electricity, the kinetic barrier will fail." Shepard said, frowning at herself.

It felt too easy.

Kasumi picked up on the unspoken sentiment. "Yeah, Keiji could have done this in his sleep. Hell, I bet even _you_ could do it with the right software and some careful coaching. But the thing is, honey, it's never about getting in. The hard part is getting out. That's why I needed the blueprint."

The master thief then proceeded to explain in detail while Shepard went about the mansion, collecting various bits and pieces of data to construct the key.

The crux of the issue was, once they took the graybox, the vault would lock down with the intruders inside, cutting them off from their escape route. To leave this place, they would need to first open the deadlocked vault door, fight through an army of guards, and get to their getaway car before it got shot down by air support. Without the blueprint, they would have had to rely on brute force for most of the obstacles. With blueprint in hand however, well, now they had options.

The deadlock was no trouble. Kasumi had all the existing vault door schematics stored in her greybox, ready to be used to crack it open.

Now came the getting away part: while the vault itself was completely surrounded with thick concrete and reinforced durasteel, there was a maze of service corridors right outside the vault that led to other less secured warehouses and multiple loading docks where unwanted guests could easily get lost. With the blueprint stored in Kasumi's graybox, she could now use that information to her advantage. For example, the thief could trap their pursuers by cutting off electricity to different sections, fooling surveillance footage by tapping into the grid, and impeding security mechs by flooding the hallways via false fire alarm. In other words, Kasumi could use the blueprint to buy time for their escape.

To accomplish the same effect without the blueprint, Kasumi would have had to waste precious time standing around and endlessly scanning to find the appropriate electrical conduits buried within the walls. It would be entirely impractical under battle conditions where she might need to flee at a moment's notice. This method might be useful for exploring, say, a prothean ruin to spot traps and hidden mechanisms at a leisurely pace, but it was mostly useless in a time crunch; ergo, applying overwhelming force with a very large gun would be the preferred method under this condition.

Kasumi's explanation was really quite insightful. Shepard had seen many military operations carried out with less forethought before. Perhaps this was a hint that she should delegate more tasks to the master thief in the future.

"And we're in." Shepard could hear the grin in Kasumi's voice. "I have the sudden urge to say _Open Sesame_."

The underground vault was so enormous, it could have been used to accommodate a small frigate. At the far end of the the vault, the severed head of Lady Liberty hung motionlessly on the wall as if it were a stuffed elk head decorating a hunter's cabin. Kasumi swore loudly at the gruesome sight.

Shepard paused in her step when she spotted something else that was equally irksome. "How the hell did you end up in here, David?" The battered marble sculpture stood stoically on its one remaining leg, silent and motionless as all its neighbors.

Hock had ample reason to keep his vault as well guarded as Fort Knox. As far as she could see, most of the artifacts could not have been acquired legally. The distinct Prothean statute that could only be found on Ilos - a rare artefact that was impossible to lawfully possess by private collectors. The quarian stone tablets with exquisite ancient scripts carved onto its surface - undoubtedly a zealously guarded treasure the quarian would kill to keep. And that was just the ones she could identify at a glance.

"I think I just found something Liara would like." Shepard waved down Kasumi from two aisles away.

"You have good eyes, Shep." Kasumi picked up one of the compact submachine guns from the display table to get a closer look. "This is a M-12 Locust by Kassa Fabrication, a gun that killed two presidents. Actually, I believe this is _the_ gun." She handed it to Shepard and picked up an almost identical gun next to it. "How convenient. This is an exact replica." With a flourish, Kasumi flipped the weapon over to show her the standard laser engraved replica icon stamped at the butt of the handle.

"Nice. Liara will love this." Grinning widely, Shepard clipped the shiny new toy to her belt before taking out her Omni-tool to make a small change. "Locust, plus cryo ammo. Now we're set."

"Oh, that is evil." Kasumi shook her head, but froze a heartbeat later. Her gaze was now fixed on a small object sitting on the same display table as the Locust. The innocuous silver gadget was about the size of a thumbnail, and seemingly entirely unremarkable within a vault of treasures.

"Is that…?"

Kasumi picked up the graybox and caressed the priceless item with reverence reserved for the gods. "Yes." She breathed. Taking a moment to visibly get a hold of herself, Kasumi secured the prize in her belt pouch and said, "we need to go."

It was unexpected, but they actually made it out of the vault before the alarm started. This lucky break saved them from having to crack the door, and also gave them a head start against their pursuers. Shepard turned on the map overlay on her HUD as she followed the thief through the maze of service corridors. Guards already in front of them were easy to dispatch; narrow hallways, straight shots. A few glancing hits from the Locust was enough to freeze the mercs. Follow up the attack with a well timed biotic throw, and the resulting cryo explosion was enough to knock over an entire group of opponents.

As for enemies behind them, Kasumi had used her previously mentioned tactics and dramatically impeded their progress by tapping into the building's power grid. Even if they made it through electrified water/exploding mechs/falling fire doors alive, none could catch a glimpse of their target before they were permanently put down. Phasing in and out of cloak like a vengeful ghost, Kasumi was able to strike unsuspecting guards in the back and end them with one hit.

They reached the rooftop loading dock where they were supposed to rendezvous with their getaway vehicle, but met with the business end of two Yimr mechs instead. While they were justifiably distracted, three transporters flew in and started raining mercs on top of them.

Above them, Shepard could hear the distinct engine roar of a gunship approaching.

"Miss Goto, I knew you would come eventually. Like a moth to flame, you cannot keep away." Hock's mocking voice boomed through the gunship's loudspeakers. "Lay down your weapons, you are surrounded. Or don't. It doesn't matter to me. Regardless, I must thank you for bringing me another graybox to my doorstep."

"Murderer!" Kasumi cried while firing at the gunship; the attack caused no damage, as the bullets simply bounced off its impressive kinetic barrier. However this made her intention clear. She would rather die than be captured.

Hock spoke again, not even bothering to move the gunship out of range from the pitiful attack. "Very well, Miss Goto. Goodbye. And do try to keep your head in one piece. I will enjoy ripping it open myself."

Shepard watched Kasumi's face twisted into a rictus of hate. Hock's taunt had clearly hit its mark.

"Calm down!" Shepard quickly grabbed onto her elbow to prevent her from sticking her head out of cover. "Listen, I need you to distract the mechs for as long as you can. Do you understand?"

Kasumi's features smoothed out at the request as she considered her options. "Yeah. I can give you maybe three minutes."

Three minutes was more than enough. The crime lord obviously had no intention of pulverizing Kasumi for fear of damaging the two grayboxes on her person. For now, the gunship was out of the play.

As for the Ymir mechs, while they had excellent defense and overwhelming offence, their mobility was abysmal, especially when compared to the nimble master thief. If the mechs were out of the way, Shepard would be able to give the guards her full attention. It would be a challenge to pull off while staying in the character of her Alison Gunn persona. In other words, she needed to get out of this jam without using any of Commander Shepard's signature moves; no charge, no nova, and no biotic punch. To make matters worse, she had to fight without a shotgun or an assault rifle because she was only allowed to carry sidearms while masquerading as a guard.

 _Oh boy, Liara is going to be so mad when she finds out._

Clipping the Locust back on her belt, Shepard took out the collapsible monomolecular blade from her back pouch and whipped it to its full length. This melee weapon was part of Alison Gunn's disguise, and Shepard was going to kiss her wife afterward for reminding her to bring it just in case.

"Widget, takeover the mechs. Kasumi, on my mark!" At the same time Shepard barked out the command, she spun and slashed at the closest group of guards from behind cover. The wide arc of razor sharp biotic energy phased through covers at a blinding speed and ripped apart the advancing guards like a hot knife through butter. "Go!"

Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos, Kasumi shot off like a bat out of hell in the opposite direction. The mercs were scattered by Shepard's previous attack, but the two Ymir mechs predictably stomped after the thief. It would take some time for Widget to seize control of the mechs. Meanwhile, Shepard had a different target in mind while Kasumi stalled for time.

Channeling a jet of biotic down her legs to boost her speed, Shepard exploded forward to unleash her fury in a flurry of strikes. To the bystanders, she was moving so fast, she appeared to be teleporting around the battlefield. One blink, and she was behind someone to cut off their head. The smart ones tried to keep their distances, but her biotic slash could reach far and cut through cover. If that one attack didn't kill them off, Shepard simply tossed around more biotics to blast people off their feet. More than a couple mercs were thrown off the roof during the violent exchange.

Wincing from bullets ricocheting off her back, Shepard quickly rolled behind a large shipping crate to recover her diminishing shields after dispatching a group of guards. Roughly a third of them were down, but more were closing in on her location. From the sound of rocket launchers going off, she knew Kasumi was barely hanging on. Widget was almost done, and she needed to wrap this up prompto.

When she first ran into Chief Roe at the guard's quarter, Shepard had discreetly tagged her Omni-tool as insurance. In the beginning it was hard to get to her target when there were so many enemies in the way, but now that the opposition had been thinned out, Shepard was able to close in. The red dot on her HUD that marked the Eclipse leader's location was about thirty meters away. Roe was currently crouching behind cover while flinging fire at her to incinerate her armor. The cracks and scorch marks on Shepard's chestplate could attest to how good a job she was doing.

In a burst of speed, Shepard stormed towards the security chief and fired off a warp to chew through her shields. Not waiting idly for results, she followed up the initial salvo with another powerful slash as soon as she was within range to detonate the unstable warp field. Even from twenty meters away, Shepard could hear the woman scream as the rapidly shifting biotic shroud shredded her body to ribbons at the molecular level. The added defense from her tech armor that was effective against normal gunfire was proven useless when tested against biotic explosion.

Shepard closed in the last few paces and cut open Roe's jugular to put her out of her misery. In a shower of red, the only reliable witness who could identify Alison Gunn as the turncoat amongst Hock's private guards went down. There would still be rumors and hearsays about a female biotic with a sword, but there would be no names and no faces to go with the story.

 _AI hacking complete. Ymir A and Ymir B stand by_. Widget updated the work status at the bottom screen of her HUD. Shepard grinned underneath her helmet as sweats rolled down her face. "Take out the gunship!"

The two giant mechs whirled towards their new target and launched a barrage of rockets at it. The gunship's kinetic barrier glowed under the strain before it shattered to a million pieces.

Naturally, Hock retaliated by tearing the two Ymir mechs apart with its oversized guns. Now that was two fewer problems Shepard had to worry about.

"I got this!" Kasumi shouted and signaled Shepard to keep the gunship occupied. And then in a series of acrobatic moves, the thief scampered up the electrical tower and flew at the gunship. Her Omni-tool extended and formed a protective gauntlet as she slammed down her fist on top of the gunship, punching a hole through the glass roof of the cockpit.

Shepard laughed out loud when she saw Kasumi gave Hock a cheery two finger salute before she jumped off. The next moment, a blinding light went off inside the cockpit and forced Shepard to look away. Somehow it made the gunship lose control and crash into the electrical tower. The resulting explosion was so strong, it sent her sailing into a metal crate.

Ears still ringing, Shepard shouted at the thief, "what the hell was that?"

"Flashbang grenade!" Was the reply.

If the multiple false fire alarms and the berserking gunship was not enough to bring the local law enforcement to Hock's mansion, Shepard was sure the mushroom shaped fire cloud was going to do it. "We need to scram. Where is your car?"

Kasumi pointed at the closest transporter that was used to drop mercs in.

Of course. Why own when you can steal?

x-x-x

Joker felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. The oppressive silence inside the cockpit manifested as this uncomfortable sensation of tiny pin pricks on his skin, making his teeth itch.

"Seriously, you guys need to back up a little. Literally breathing down my neck just isn't helpful at all. If you want to help, sit down and keep an eye on the sensors, or something." Joker complained to the two N7 standing behind his seat. Toombs was currently sitting at the navigator console to help him plot a course through the asteroid field surrounding the planet Alingon, while Daniels and Donnelly were busy monitoring the ship's shield generator in the engine room. They would definitely be put to work if the ship were attacked.

A morbid part of his brain screamed at him that this place was a perfect ambush site, while the sarcastic part decided that the planet's magnetic interference was so bad, no pirates could possibly find their unremarkable merchant ship. Either way, it seemed like a supremely stupid idea to come out here in a civilian vessel. What they needed were guns; huge ones that would give Garrus a raging boner.

Hadfield sat down at the communications console, but to Joker's annoyance, Rizzi remained exactly where she was. "It's all garbage signals. Too much interference." Hadfield grumbled, flipping through different channels to get a better read. Nothing seemed to work.

"I got something." Toombs said, squinting at his screen. "Some kind of machine… Bots. I see three, but I bet there are more out there."

"Donnelly, how's our shield looking?" Rizzi asked.

Donnelly's reply sounded a little tinny through the comm, but he didn't sound worried. "Holding strong. This ship's shield generator is military grade. A few rocks won't bother us."

"It's not rocks I'm worried about." Rizzi muttered, frowning at the navigation screen thoughtfully.

"Sentinel bots!" Toombs raised his voice. "They're armed!"

"Shit!" Joker felt sweat rolled down his back as he prepared himself for evasive maneuver, however little good it might do. Comparing to a frigate, this merchant freighter handled like a dumpster. The bots were highlighted on the screen in red, and they seemed to be multiplying. "We need to get out of here."

Hadfield interrupted him. "Wait, we're being hailed."

Of course they were being hailed. Because Bond villains always hide their evil lair inside a volcano, or in this case, an asteroid field. Joker knew this black ops business would be bad for his health. Military grade shield would not protect them from sustained fire from dozens of sentinel bots. "Let me guess: gimme all yer booty, argh!"

"Don't be ridiculous." Hadfield rolled her eyes - which, Joker couldn't help but notice both N7 seemed to be doing that a lot every time he opened his mouth - and sent the message over to the main screen. It was one line of simple text: _IFF confirmed - Poseidon_.

"If they keep doing this, I'm gonna die of a heart attack." Wiping the sweat off his brow, Joker took the ship deeper into the field, passing dozens, if not hundreds of sentinel bots, towards the coordinates marked on the surface of the planet.

Being this close to the planet, Alingon's magnetosphere essentially had rendered Joker blind. This merchant freight might had an upgraded shield installed, but its sensors and long-range locator system might as well be made of potatoes. Joker had to manually calculate the fly path as well as rely on the good old-fashioned stick-your-head-out-of-the-window (not literally) method to locate the well hidden compound located somewhere along the planet's equator, in a small valley between rolling mountains of ice and jagged earth - a perfect hideout for a pirate's den.

"We're being hailed again. They want us to dock inside the hanger." Hadfield said.

"Is that really such a good idea? I have to say, this is downright sketchy. Skipping town, changing ships, hiding in pirate infested space; I'm not an expert, but I have a feeling this is not normal at all. And I bet you that's not a super secret Alliance base down there."

Joker had expected his repeated complain would earn him more of the same answer, ie, blah blah blah, black ops, blah blah blah. However, Rizzi surprised him with one word, "no."

"No?" Joker repeated slowly, almost didn't believe his ears. "You mean, you actually agree with me?"

Rizzi shook her head. "No, I only agree that this place is not an Alliance base. Despite the irregularities, I could not sense any malice in the methods. Call it intuition if you like. The more rational explanation for this unorthodox treatment is that absolute secrecy is a requirement."

Joker turned around to give the Fury an open mouthed stare. "I didn't know you can talk so much."

Without so much as giving a verbal reply, Rizzi clicked her tongue in distaste and walked away, presumably to suit up and get ready to disembark. Or perhaps to grab a pistol so she could send a bullet through his kneecap. Joker didn't know her well, so he wasn't sure which one was more likely.

Hadfield shook her head at him in clear disapproval. "Wow, way to run your mouth. Do you know how hard it is to get an introvert comfortable enough to open up without the aid of a lot of liquor?" She paused and looked at him expectantly for a second and added with a wink, "get it? _Open up_?"

Joker decided he was the one who needed a lot of liquor because he did _not_ hear that terrible pun coming out of Hadfield's mouth. "Fine, I'll apologize for being an insensitive ass later. Right now I need to know if I should dock or hightail out of here."

Hadfield shrugged. "Sure, since we're already here, go ahead and dock. Besides, if they had wanted to kill us, we would've been space junk a long time ago. Until we make contact, we won't know if this is an elaborate trap, or if this is an extremely sensitive mission that's been classified to hell and back."

"Alright then."

The _Not Alliance_ facility had a multitude of hangers attached to the main building. Judging by the layout, this place could serve as a small trading port. A top-of-the-line salarian frigate was already docked in one of the many spots. Joker could only hope that it wasn't filled with pirates.

They really had no way out. Alingon was a far cry from a typical garden world. The harsh cold alone meant that they would die in about thirty seconds if they tried to leave the compound beyond the protection of its powerful forcefield. It would be idiotic to die in a pirate's den after having survived a shipwreck.

His apprehension must have shown on his face because Toombs unclipped his pistol from his belt and handed it to him just as he got up from the pilot's seat. "Here. Just in case."

Joker accepted the weapon with a grateful nod, even though he knew the pistol would most likely cause more damage to his own hands (or his foot) than the person he attempted to shoot at.

"You probably won't need it, but it doesn't hurt." Hadfield said and patted him on the shoulder. Her reassuring gesture mercilessly reminded Joker of Commander Shepard. For once, he was glad he had Rizzi and Hadfield at his back - or preferably, in front of him while he cower behind cover.

As it turned out, no cowering was required. One would expect guards posted at every door for a secret pirate base, but the party had yet to encounter one living soul five minutes after they wandered off the dock. There were a few sealed off sections, but this placed seemed abandoned… except for this faint sound of music and throbbing bass that was steadily getting louder the further they moved into the compound.

Hadfield moved up from rear guard position and walked along side Rizzi at the front. Joker watched them exchange messages through rapid hand signs before Hadfield turned around and signaled the rest of the party to stay back. They followed the music (if it could be called that), which turned out to be some kind of batarian heavy metal, complete with incoherent screeching about sex and death, in the order most people would find disagreeable, and with body parts that weren't meant for the activity.

They finally arrived in a large hall where they found the source of all that noise - it was a customized Fenris security mech with blue striped warpaint on its silver armor plates. Its stubby mechanical head swerved towards the intruders, but it stayed seated on the floor and kept on playing the awful ruckus.

Thinking to himself how surreal this scene looked, Joker almost jumped in surprise when a stranger casually strolled in the mess hall through a different set of doors. Hadfield and Rizzi both tensed up, but this baldheaded, half-naked, heavily tattooed newcomer barely spare the party a glance as she walked by with her arms full of stuff - two packages of MRE, a handful of field ration bars, three tins of salted varren meat, a jar of pickled eggs of mysterious origin, a jumbo pack of Blast Oh's breakfast cereal, and a case of cheap batarian ale - before dumping the contents on a table. Without so much as acknowledging their existence, this female pirate (her tit straps sort of gave her away) proceeded to sloppily rip open the cereal box and dig her hand in, probably to look for the plastic toy rocket ship included in every package.

"Excuse me. Hello? Hey, excuse me." Hadfield took a step forward and waved at the woman to get her attention, but she was pointedly ignored. With the unholy noise playing in the background, Joker strongly suspected the pirate was completely deaf.

Hadfield raised her voice. "If you don't mind? Hello?" She took a few more steps towards her, but the N7 was ignored again. Unless the pirate was blind on top of being deaf, there was no way she didn't see that. Actually, Joker was certain she did, because he saw her looking up for a brief moment, gave the party a stink eye, and went back to her task.

Hadfield whipped out her Omni-tool and began to type. A second later, sparks flew out of the Fenris mech's back before the music suddenly stopped. Instead of retaliating like a normal security mech, it made a series of chirping sound in distress and fled the room.

The tattooed woman looked pissed by the interruption. She stood up from her seat and slammed her fists down on the table, spilling corn flakes all over the place. Blue wisps of biotics flickered across her white knuckles, the woman snapped at Hadfield, "I was listening to that, asshole!"

"Oh good, so you can hear me." Hadfield replied in an acerbic tone.

"Of course I can fucking hear you. I've got ears. Now leave me alone. I'm trying to eat here." The woman gave them a dismissive wave before she sat back down and picked up the cereal box again.

It was probably a bad idea, but Joker's mouth went off on its own before his brain caught up. "Who the hell are you?" His outburst earned him a glare from Rizzi and a an exasperated sigh from Hadfield. Joker could just imagine the impending scolding coming from Dr. Chakwas after this. It would not be the first or last time the good doctor commented on his impulsive behaviour.

The woman glared at him, and the slightly crazed look in her eyes made Joker think his mouth was going to get him killed for sure this time. "I can ask the same question. Who the hell are you? I'm just here minding my own damn business, and you losers showed up."

"We are…" Joker fumbled over his words for a second, and finished lamely, "invited."

Hadfield and Rizzi turned around to stare at him like he was crazy, while the heavily tattooed woman snorted at him. "Funny. Where did you find this clown?" She asked the two N7s like he wasn't there.

"In his bed." Hadfield replied nonchalantly.

"Hey! That's misleading." Joker protested. "And I wasn't trying to be funny. We really were invited."

The woman narrowed her eyes and studied the party intently for a moment. "Figures." She scoffed and sat back down, cracked open a beer and took a long drink from the can. "Alliance goons, eggheads, and a clown. The Queen of the Girl Scouts really ain't picky at making friends. That explains a lot. Well, you guys are unlucky. Boss Lady is out. Come back later."

Joker wasn't the only one picking up on the clue. Rizzi perked up at the unexpected intel and asked, "I take it that this 'Boss Lady' is the one in charge?"

"Sure. But as I just told you she is not here. She's busy."

"When is your boss coming back?" Hadfield asked, looking way more patient than what she probably felt.

The tattooed woman shrugged. "Hell if I know. I ain't her babysitter."

 _That was helpful._

Joker shook his head and slowly shuffled towards the table to have a seat, completely ignored the warning looks from the N7s.

The woman stared at him. "Did I say you can park your ass down?"

"No, but my ass is tired from all that walking, and your ass only takes up one seat. So I'm sitting." He wasn't lying either. His knees were starting to burn from the short trek. As thoughtful as Hadfield was to include his meds in his field kit, she didn't pack his crutches. In a bad day, he couldn't walk more than a few minutes without aching all over.

"Fine." The woman said sulkily and wrapped her arms around the pile of food to pull it closer in a possessive gesture. "But get your own food."

Joker resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. "I said I was tired, not hungry. I'll have to be starving to want to eat - what the hell is that anyway?" He pointed at the jar of pickled eggs (kidneys? eyeballs?) thingy. He was 90% sure they were not your everyday chicken eggs. For one thing, they were blue and fuzzy.

"Some kind of fruit, I hope. Tasted like chicken, though."

Joker had never heard of any kind of fruit that would taste like chicken.

"Jack! You know you're not supposed to mess with the mech!" Shouted a familiar voice from the far end of the hall. A second later, the sight of a female quarian in a purple environmental suit stomping into the mess hall jerked him out of the chair. He was on his feet, grinning like an idiot upon seeing his old friend.

"Tali!" Joker raised his arms up and limped towards the young quarian.

"Joker? What are you doing here?" Tali sounded dazed as Joker wrapped her in a tight hug. "Dr. Chakwas, you're here too! What's going on?"

"We were hoping you would have more information." Dr. Chakwas replied.

Tali made a sound and nodded understandably. "Oh, I have no clue. You'd want Liara for that. Let me give her a call. She's been locked in her room for days."

Joker paled at the thought of seeing the Commander's widow face to face again.

"At least now we know they're friendly, not pirates." Rizzi deadpanned before she turned around to signal the rest of the party to come into the room.

Unlike Joker, everyone else had followed order and stayed back a respectable distance away since they had spotted Jack. In hindsight, it was monumentally stupid to act the way he had in a hostile area. He would have been sporting bullet holes if Jack were indeed a pirate.

"So what is this place?" Joker asked, hoping Tali might have a clear answer in this convoluted spy game.

Tali made a vague gesture. It was obvious she was trying to give a truthful answer without revealing too much information. "Technically, this is Liara's place. You know, she had inherited all kinds of stuff from Matriarch Benezia."

 _Not a lie, but it feels off. Interesting. Tali is being careful._ Joker's eyebrows climbed up towards his hairline in amazement. Of all the people he knew, Tali was one he would peg as couldn't tell a lie to save her life. Apparently he was wrong.

"Sorry for the wait. I had anticipated your arrival, but I lost track of time." Dr. Liara T'Soni, one of the nicest person Joker knew, greeted them warmly with an apologetic look on her face. Joker gritted his teeth and told himself it would be unseemly to burst into tears for no apparent reason. There were shadows underneath Liara's eyes. Not surprising, seeing how there were plenty of reasons as to why she was losing sleep.

Liara continued. "First of all, welcome to Lokasenna station. I am Dr. Liara T'Soni, the leader of the Neptune cell. Here is the letter of authorization from Admiral Hackett. The pass code is Poseidon." She pulled up a screen from her Omni-tool and show the party the Admiral's personal signature and his digital authorization code.

Everyone was dead quiet at the explanation. Judging from the no nonsense expression on the two N7's faces, what Liara had claimed must be genuine.

"There are a few complications, but the basic mission parameter is simple: to recover the stealth frigate Normandy SR-2 from the terrorist group Cerberus." Liara calmly dropped the bombshell as she pulled up a holo of a familiar frigate docked in a shipyard.

Joker felt his throat closed up at the sight.

 _What the hell is going on?_

x-x-x

A/N: Sorry about the long wait. This chapter has suffered rewrites 3 times. I've scrapped more words than I've kept. Also I must express my gratitude to kind readers who have left encouraging words regarding my recent struggle with a failed IVF cycle that ended in surgery. Thank you for your support and patience. I'm feeling much better now. We will try again in a few months, I'll keep my fingers crossed.


	24. II-09: Recruitment

Book II - Chapter 9: Recruitment

Peering through the windows, Liara spotted her father pacing impatiently along the gangway even before the Kodiak finished the landing procedure at Nos Astra's private dock. Behind her father stood two commandos, Aeian and Neaira, both looking ready for action. It was obvious Aethyta was not taking any chances after what had happened.

"Liara!" Her father all but ran at her to give her a bone-crushing hug. "You idiot child!" Aethyta sounded more worried than angry, and she didn't seem to want to loosen her arms. "You're going to be the death of me one day!"

"I'm all right, like I said." Liara protested, squirming under Aethyta's attention. She was over one hundred years old and did not need to be treated like a youngling in public, dammit.

Aethyta pulled back to give her a deadpan glare. "Really? Last I heard, you ditched your bodyguards and then went chasing down bomb wielding terrorists in a burning building. That was right after some dickhead tried to assassinate you in your own home. Thirty-six people were killed in the bombing, Liara. You disappeared. No word from you for a month, and now I find you _just peachy_! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Liara cringed. When it was laid out this way, it sounded _really_ bad. No wonder her father was upset. "Again, I'm sorry, Father. A lot has happened, and it simply slipped my mind. I contacted you as soon as I could."

Aethyta gave Liara a long suffering look. "Oh hell, you really are Nezzie's daughter through and through. That's not praise, by the way. Listen, kiddo. I understand you're a grown ass adult, you've been out on your own for decades. But by Athame's glorious tits, you've got to remember you don't have to do everything on your own."

Lowering her head in apology, Liara sighed. "I know."

"I sure hope you do. And no offense Liara, but you look like crap." Aethyta pointed out.

"It's been really busy for me. I haven't slept much." Liara admitted. "But the worst is over. I've learnt my lesson, and now my Omni-tool is supposed to remind me to eat and sleep on time." She was not exaggerating. Other than making an obligatory public appearance for her various watchers, she was supposed to relax on her shore leave. Shepard had not been impressed when she had come back from her mission in Bekenstein and seen how Liara had overworked herself to exhaustion during her bondmate's absence.

It had been a hectic month since she assumed the mantle as the new Shadow Broker. Even with plenty of help, it had still taken them weeks to map out the entire network. If not for the helpful info drone Glyph, Liara would still be neck deep in an avalanche of information until sometime next year. There were just so many people to keep watch of, so many projects to monitor at the same time, it felt like if she blinked, she would miss something important. By the time she was able to sit back and survey her work, a month had gone by. That was when Liara remembered she still had a life outside of her room - prime amongst which was a very worried father, plus a slew of spies who were getting anxious of her unexplained disappearance.

"How long are you staying this time? I'm trying not to hover, but I would really like to know."

"A few days, depending. I have contacts I need to see in person." Or to be seen in person, rather. Disappearing for longer than a month was suspicious enough that her watchers might be compelled to do something that was more invasive than installing cameras in her apartment. Liara needed to maintain her public persona as the naive scholar, the underachieving daughter of the disgraced Matriarch Benezia, the grieving young widow of the late Commander Shepard - someone who was vaguely important by association, but harmless if left alone.

"... and then you are leaving again." Aethyta said quietly. Her father didn't sound disapproving, but Liara still felt guilty for putting that resigned look on her father's face.

"I'm sorry."

Aethyta shook her head while smiling sadly at her daughter. "Don't apologize. You've gotta do what you gotta do. You wouldn't be risking your life if it weren't worth it. It's the Mother's Curse, I tell ya. ' _Wait until you have a daughter of your own.'_ With a krogan father, you would think I was the stubborn one. Oh, you should've seen your mother. Once she made up her mind… " Her voice trailed off as she lost herself in memories.

This happened often with matriarchs. A thousand year's worth of memories would sometimes sneak up on them when they were emotional. Liara waited patiently until her father caught herself.

"Right. Just... take care of yourself out there, okay, kiddo?"

"I will, Dad." Liara promised.

Apparently, her promise alone was not enough to assuage her father's fears. Aethyta had insurance in place. "Hey, umm, I've called in favours from a few friends. Commandos. They're all yours. Just tell them where to go. Take Aeian and Neaira, too. They're still beating themselves up from last time. This time we'll make it official. All the paperwork is done and ready to file."

Liara couldn't help but wonder if she had heard wrong. "You're _giving_ me asari commandos?!"

Disciples were not mercenaries. Once pledged, they served for life. Maidens from lesser families often pledged into service of influential matriarchs in exchange for mentorship, connections, and financial support. When Benezia was labelled a traitor by the Council, all her retainers were unconditionally released from their service as per asari law to strip her of power. Those who stayed were considered complicit of the same crime of high treason. Even after her mother's name was cleared when her unwilling indoctrination came to light, the result remained the same. None of the former disciples would commit career suicide and pledge themselves to the only surviving T'Soni. Retainership was an honour reserved for distinguished matriarchs, not unproven maidens, no matter who their mothers were.

The matriarch-disciple relationship was only a hop away from mother-daughter in asari society. As a result, trading disciples naturally became an established practice between prominent matriarchs as a tangible way of forming alliance. Since Liara herself was only a fresh-faced maiden and had nothing equivalent to give back in return, her father's offer was an utterly one-sided favour. Not to mention those were not ordinary disciples, they were highly trained elites. Aethyta's gift to her was the equivalent of standing on the rooftop and shouting to the world that she not only recognized Liara as her daughter, but she was also willing to invest a great deal of resources to improve her social standing, to help her jump start the restoration of House T'Soni.

Aethyta smirked at her outburst. "Well, you're a little too old for me to buy you a damn pony."

"You are the best dad a girl could hope for." Liara said, a bit breathless from the implication of her generous gesture.

At her comment, Aethyta's cheeks darkened to a deep shade of purple. Her father seemed incredibly flustered. "Anyways," she coughed and cleared her throat a few times before she could continue without choking on her own embarrassment. "I called the girls back from Thessia when I got your message. They are waiting at the lounge. I'll introduce you. Should've done this a month ago and saved me the headache."

Liara considered for a moment and realized her father was right. If she had had a team of commandos with her, or if she had not dismissed her bodyguards, Vasir would have thought twice before she tried anything. Thinking back, she had been acting severely over confident. It shouldn't matter whether she could handle herself in most situations; having someone else watch her back was the safer option. She had to remind herself of that. When she took over the entire Shadow Broker network, she had inadvertently inherited all of their enemies. On top of being on the Matriarchy's watch list, she was now a wanted criminal in every government - if anyone were to discover her covert career change. The objective of her bodyguards was therefore expanded from ensuring her physical safety to also protecting her secrets.

For as long as she could remember, Benezia had always travelled with an entourage of disciples. Liara had thought this habit to be simple posturing amongst high society. Ironically enough, it was her father's love for her that taught her to appreciate her mother's caution. The fact that she was raised in relative isolation while constantly being surrounding by guards now suddenly took on a different meaning. Was her mother involved in something dangerous that would justify this level of paranoia? Possibly. Short of asking Benezia herself, she would never find out the whole truth. Or perhaps…

"Did Mother have powerful enemies who would want to hurt her through me?" Liara asked as they made their way through the trading floor.

The sudden change of topic earned her a startled look from Aethyta. "Why the…" She paused and shook her head at Liara. "You're too smart for your own good. Don't do anything rash, you hear me? Those old bags might be full of hot air, but they've still got teeth."

"So that's a yes."

"That's a given." Aethyta snorted. "I can't say I know much. I've been away from Thessia for too long to be in the loop. Not like I was ever one of _them_ , anyway. But your mother was. They questioned her judgement when she chose to bond wrists with me instead of with someone more respectable. She was too good for me, and everybody knew that, me included. When she left, it felt inevitable. Honestly, it's better this way. Nezzie had the breeding, the skill, the right temperament to play the wise philosopher to the whole Republic. Someone who shone as brightly as her? You bet your ass she had enemies."

Another matter to look into, it seemed. Aethyta was being deliberately vague. Either she didn't know the details, or she was being careful. Liara had her suspicions. Her mother's old political enemies might very well be responsible for making her a person of interest to the High Command.

In any case, it would be pointless to speculate without more information. Her fingers itched to reach for her heavily encrypted Omni-tool, but she valiantly resisted the temptation. Regardless of how much she wanted to dive into this new found mystery, it was a problem for another day. Liara had promised Shepard to take it easy during her shore leave, so she would do her best to honor her bondmate's request. Shepard had insisted that she go cold turkey from the Broker network for at least a full week. Liara understood the sentiment, even though it still puzzled her how a fat bird could be related to her obsessive workaholic tendency. Human idioms were so confusing sometimes.

Maybe she would visit a museum or an art gallery after meeting her new commandos. Some place nice and public. Afterall, she wouldn't want to bore her various watchers too much by doing something as mundane as shoe shopping.

x-x-x

Elsewhere on Illium, Oriana Solheim was blissfully oblivious of the complicated web she had stepped into.

The eighteen-year-old could barely hold back the wide grin that threatened to split her face as she darted through the dense crowd congregating in front of the Kurinth student centre. The University of Illium was her absolute favourite place in the world. Ever since her early enrollment at fifteen, she had spent most of her time on campus. High school hadn't been the best time for her, but college life was everything she had dreamed of. Her above average intellect was no longer an oddity, but a much appreciated trait amongst her peers. She had made friends, real friends. And at eighteen, she thought she had finally discovered her true calling.

"Ori, over here!" Elois Errin, a young salarian boy whom she shared the same math and physics class with, waved her over to one the many booths lining the square.

"Hey, Errin. I didn't know you are coming today. I thought career fair is not your thing."

Errin shook his head and poked at the direction of the Kurinth student centre with a thumb. "I came in this morning to watch Pelas play."

Oriana's expression crumbled at the news. "I can't believe I forgot about that. Crap. How angry do you think she will be when she finds out I missed her debut match?"

Errin waved off her concern. "Nah. She's too nice to stay mad at you. And I think she'll understand you're distracted by other things." He glanced around the rows of colourful booths and asked, "what's the one you've been going on about?"

Oriana's eyes lit up. "Here, I'll show you." She grabbed onto the salarian boy's hand and literally dragged him towards a booth with a large holo-display of a garden world spinning slowly. It had a large banner reading "COLONY DEVELOPMENT" in bold hanging proudly above the table. The booth was manned by two people, a middle aged human male with a weathered face, and a purple-skinned asari.

"Hello, Oriana, it's good to see you again. Do you have more questions?" The human male asked with a kind smile.

Oriana shook her head. "No, Fai Dan. You've given me so much information already. I'm just showing my friend around."

"Of course. Just let me know if you need anything. I'm gonna be here all day." Fai Dan said.

The asari gave Oriana a demure nod. "Miss Solheim, I hope you have considered my earlier proposition. With your grades, you are a prime candidate for our co-op position."

Oriana swallowed thickly at the startled expression on Errin's face, and quickly apologized. "Sorry, Nyxeris, but I still need to talk to my parents about it. I'll let you know as soon as I can. Promise."

Much to her relief, Nyxeris seemed satisfied by her answer. "That's more than reasonable. I hope to hear from you again soon, Miss Solheim. Meanwhile, why don't you take more pamphlets for your friends? We are always looking for bright young minds to join our industry."

Errin blinked rapidly at the asari, but he took the offered piece of printed paper without protest.

 _Eden Prime Colony Development Student Exchange Program_ , the top of the pamphlet read. Below that was a picture of a happy human family standing in front of a modular home adjacent a vast field of vertical farms.

"So? What do you think?" Oriana asked, a small amount of anxiety bleeding into her voice.

Errin tilted his head as he studied the pamphlet. "This is what you always wanted, isn't it? You've mentioned, loudly, on multiple occasions, that you want to work in colony development after you finish school. A _paid_ co-op experience would be invaluable. It even says here that the colony will work with you through your post-graduate studies! I can't think of a reason to turn this down."

"But I'll have to leave Illium." Oriana blurted out. "I've lived here all my life. I don't know if I'm ready."

"You are already eighteen." Errin said, frowning a little.

Oriana rolled her eyes. "I'm not a salarian. Eighteen is barely old enough to consume alcohol." At the disbelieving expression on Errin's face, she added quickly, "legally."

"Is that why _I'm_ always the one who is responsible for bringing booze?!"

"Details, details."

"In any case, it looks like you've already made up your mind." Errin gave her friend a slow blink while smiling at her warmly. "A word of advice: go tell Pelas as soon as you can."

"Pelas? Why?"

Errin stared at her for a moment and huffed. "Nevermind. Just go. I think you can catch her at the training room if you hurry."

"Alright. Thanks, Errin." Oriana said before she dashed off.

Just as Errin said, she found Pelas in the training room doing biotic weightlifting by herself. The female turian was a few years older than she was, but they were in the same genetic theory class together. Her friend stopped her routine and set aside the weights when she saw her waving at her from outside the glass partition.

Pelas' eyes lit up and she signaled Oriana in. "Ori! Come on in. How did you like the match?"

Oriana felt like an ass. "I'm so sorry, Pelas. I missed it."

Pelas looked down on the floor. Her mandibles trembled ever so slightly.

 _Oh no, oh no. She's really upset! I've really messed up!_ Oriana inwardly cringed.

Pelas lied. "Oh. It's not that interesting anyway. Not everyone is into biotiball. Besides, I only got to play the last five minutes to replace Taria. She is an excellent Forward, but she lacks stamina. We won, by the way." She paused for a moment and asked, "so what brought you here?"

Not exactly sure how to break the news to her friend without making herself looking like an even worse asshole, Oriana took out the carefully folded pamphlet from her pocket and handed it to Pelas.

"Eden Prime Colony Development Student Exchange Program." Pelas read out the title and began to flip through the pages. Oriana was not all that great with interpreting turian facial expressions, but even she could tell Pelas was getting upset. "You're leaving."

"I haven't decided yet." Oriana protested weakly. Her words sounded false to her own ears.

"Yes, you are leaving." Pelas muttered, her shoulders slumped in dejection.

After an awkward moment of silence, Pelas straightened up and returned the pamphlet. "Congratulations, Ori. This is a dream come true for you. You should totally go for it."

"But that means I'll have to leave you guys behind. I don't know if I can do it."

Pelas stared at her thoughtfully for a long minute. "Honestly, that shouldn't be a factor at all. This is your future we're talking about. You're an exceptional human, Ori. You'll make new friends. And there is this magical invention called the extranet, I don't know if you've heard of it. I expect you to keep in contact. I don't mean short texts, either. I want holos and vids."

Oriana tackled her friend into a tight hug. Pelas flailed a bit in her arms, but eventually the stiff turian hugged her back. "You're the best friend ever." Oriana said, sniffing a little.

"I know. I'm awesome like that."

Oriana pulled back from the hug, feeling more than a little guilty. "That also means I won't be able to see your next match. I'm a lousy friend."

Pelas shook her head and replied slowly. "Ah. There won't be a next match for me, I'm afraid."

That was news to her. Oriana frowned in a mix of concern and confusion. "What do you mean?"

"There are… events happening on Palaven. Whatever it is, it's way above my rank. Long story short, I'm being recalled back to the Cabal." Pelas shrugged, a gesture she had picked up from Oriana, and stressed, "it's mandatory."

Oriana was aghast, if not a little outraged. "Can they do that? You're in the middle of your program! This is Illium. You don't even live in a turian colony!"

"Regardless, I'm still a Silvosus." Pelas traced the blue clan insignia painted on her pale faceplate, and added subduedly, "perhaps it's negotiable for other turians, but I'm a _special asset_. There aren't that many turian biotics around. I'm scheduled to ship out in two weeks. I was planning to tell you sooner."

"That's not fair."

Pelas tilted her head, her mandibles quivered in good humor. "I'm a turian. I do my duty."

Oriana wasn't sure what the proper response for that should be, but apparently Pelas knew just how to cheer her up. "At least I'm not Errin." Pelas pretended to shudder in fright. "I can't imagine the freak out I'd have if I were locked in a breeding contract with a complete stranger at _twelve_."

"You don't have to convince me." Oriana scrunched up her face in distaste. "I know it's a salarian thing, but I just can't get over the _yuck_."

"That we can both agree on." Pelas said with a sigh. In an obvious effort to change the subject, she asked cheerfully, "so tell me more about this program. Eden Prime… Why does it sound so familiar?"

Oriana twiddled her thumbs nervously. "Um, you might have heard of the planet on the news a little while back."

Pelas' mandibles fell wide open at the reminder. "That's the planet the geth attacked! Ori! I can't believe this! What are you thinking?!"

"Whoa, chill. The geth are gone now. Commander Shepard led the charge and defeated their invasion force at the Battle of the Citadel. It's over. Don't you see? This is why they have the exchange program. The war is over, and Eden Prime needs every help rebuilding. They have Alliance patrols and everything. It's perfectly safe."

The look on Pelas' face was plain that she was less than convinced. "Ori, the war might be over, but the geth are still out there. Who knows what they'll do now that the Commander is gone?"

"It'll be alright. I promise. And speaking of the first human Spectre, did you know there's a settlement on Eden Prime named after her? The initial settlers were all personally rescued by the Commander from the geth on a different world and subsequently relocated there. I was just chatting with the mayor of Janestown outside. He told me he was on the Normandy - yes, that Normandy - for three days!"

"Janestown?"

Oriana beamed. Though her effort to change the subject was pathetic, she was happy to see Pelas playing along. "Commander Jane Shepard. Jane's Town. Got it?"

"I see." Pelas seemed amused by her enthusiasm. "I didn't realize you have such a serious case of hero worship."

"Well, excuse me, but the Commander is every human's hero." Oriana crossed her arms, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason. "In my opinion, she is the finest soldier of this generation. She should be every turian's hero, too."

Pelas cleared her throat. "Well, yes, way to stereotype... But I can't say you're wrong. Our entire species really does love our war heros. You should compare notes with my little brother. Plubius has an entire shelf full of Commander Shepard action figurines. Just the other day, he was telling me how he was going to grow up and be a kickass vanguard like the Commander. He is not even a biotic!"

"Yeah, no. I don't think I'm that bad."

"Thank the Spirits!" Pelas praised mockingly.

Oriana scowled at her friend.

"In any case, try to be careful. I worry about you."

"Hey, that's my line." Oriana took the turian's talons and squeezed it affectionately. "You are the one who is being forced back to military service. I bet you'll see more geth than I ever will. I still don't get why they want more biotics now. You would think they need more engineers to deal with the geth."

Pelas finished the train of thought for her. "Unless it's not geth we'll be fighting." She murmured.

Oriana frowned at her friend. "What do you mean?"

Pelas shook her head. "Nothing. Just thinking out loud."

"Well then, if you don't have anywhere else you need to be, why don't we grab Errin and go hang out somewhere? We still have a couple hours before the next class starts."

x-x-x

After leaving Lokasenna station on the same merchant freighter, Joker was dropped off at the Citadel without fanfare. A week after that, he arrived at the small colony of Tiptree located in the Horsehead nebula via a rental shuttle, home at last.

His father was still working at the dock when he showed up at the house, but his baby sister Hilary was there to greet him.

"Look at you! You're so tall now." Joker grinned widely while pulling the young girl in a hug. He had wanted to pick her up and spin her around like he used to, unfortunately that would be an impossible feat to replicate since she was beginning to shoot up like a weed at thirteen.

"I can't believe you're home! Why didn't you call ahead, you jerk!" Hilary kissed his scruffy cheeks and then punched him in the arm.

"I wanted to surprise you, of course. Here, look what I got you." Joker opened his luggage and took out a neatly wrapped box.

Hilary gawked.

"Open it."

She ripped apart the gift wrap like it was Christmas morning. "Oh my god! It's the Normandy!" Hilary squealed like an overexcited puppy while waving the model ship around.

"Found it in a souvenir shop on the Citadel. Thought you might like it. Some assemblies required. I can help if you want." Joker offered. The expensive toy was the same limited edition, made-for-turian precision model that Commander Shepard had recommended when it first came out half a year ago. When Joker saw it in the store, it was all but given that he would fork over the credits.

"Yes! Let's build it now." Hilary beamed.

They spent the rest of the afternoon holed up in the kitchen, putting the model ship together at the dinner table while catching up. It was not until the ship was halfway done did her sister decided that the charade had gone on long enough.

"Jeff, are you going to tell me why you're home?" Hilary asked casually without looking up from the small pieces she was trying to glue together.

Joker remained silent as he internally debated what to tell his sister.

Hilary clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Just because I'm the baby in the family, it doesn't mean I'm stupid, you know. You refused to come home after you were shot down. Why are you here now?"

"Because here is where I need to be." Joker replied truthfully. And that was about all he could say without revealing classified information.

"Did you… quit?" Hilary asked delicately. It was obvious she wanted to know if he was kicked out of the Alliance.

Joker gave her a tired smile. "Leave of absence. You guys were right. I needed a timeout after what happened. So here I am." Now that was half truth at best. Nonetheless, Hilary bought it, because she never pried again after that.

Four days after he came home, an uninvited visitor showed up at his doorstep. Right on schedule.

"Hawthorne? What are you doing here?" Joker frowned at the man in a mixture of dismay and confusion. Private Thomas Hawthorne was one of the many new transfers assigned to the Normandy after the Battle of Citadel. One that he actually liked. Despite the short time they had served together, Joker had always thought Hawthorne to be a pretty chill guy.

Apparently, looks could be deceiving. Inwardly, Joker was cursing himself for being such a gullible fool. Who would have thought this chill guy was actually a Cerberus plant within the Alliance?

x-x-x

A similar scene was playing out in a quiet bar in a different system.

"Jenny? Is that you?" Gabriella put down her drink as she squinted at the woman to make out her familiar features. Even in the dim light, there was no mistake that the person was Corporal Jenny Goldstein, a comm specialist who served with them on the _Perugia_ under Admiral Kahoku. They weren't exactly best buds since they worked on different decks, but they had served on the same ship together for two years. Kenneth had commented more than one occasion how long and shapely Goldstein's legs were.

"Yeah, it's me." Goldstein smirked a little and added, "you can close your mouth now, Kenneth."

Kenneth's face flushed a dark red. Most people would probably think the big oaf was flustered, but Gabriella knew better. Her best friend was trying to control his temper. After all, he had just found out that a comrade in arms had been a traitor the entire time.

When Dr. T'Soni informed them of their assignment, they had thought the Cerberus recruiter would be this evil, shady person with a silver tongue. Goldstein was witty and likable. More importantly, she had been a friend.

"Are you on shore leave? What are doing here on Terra Nova? And how did you find us?" Gabriella asked, hoping this meeting was purely a coincidence, and not what she thought it was.

"I handed in my letter when I heard you guys left. I've been looking for you. I've got to admit, it hasn't been easy." Goldstein replied, and her answer made Gabriella's heart drop to her stomach.

"Why?" Kenneth asked curtly before taking another sip from his glass. It was pretty clear he was in a bad mood now. Oh boy. Gabriella briefly contemplated kicking him under the table as a reminder to cool his head.

Goldstein tilted her head. "Why? Because what happened wasn't right. You two are the most brilliant engineers I know, and the Alliance used you and threw you away. Your talent has been wasted."

"Well, sometimes life sucks. But you said so yourself, we are brilliant engineers. We can find employment pretty much anywhere. We're just taking some time off for now, you know, take it easy, travel a bit." Gabriella shrugged nonchalantly.

"And visit dive bars such as this fine establishment?" Goldstein raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"Don't knock the bar. Their scotch is just fine." Kenneth said in a huff. He sounded calm. Gabriella was impressed. It looked like kicking wouldn't be necessary anymore.

"Well, I'll have to judge for myself." Goldstein joined their table and waved down a waitress to order a drink.

"Jokes aside, you still haven't told us how you found us." Gabriella brought the topic up again because she was genuinely puzzled. "Since we left the Arcturus station, we've been wandering around aimlessly, bar-hopping. I wouldn't have known I was going to this particular bar until I decided to walk in."

Goldstein gave her a wink. "I am an _excellent_ comm specialist, Gabby."

Gabriella couldn't believe this. The crazy N7s had been right to act so paranoid. She actually felt ill just to know that this Cerberus spy had been assigned by the Alliance to handle all the inbound and outbound communications for a military vessel. It was the equivalent of hiring a fox to guard the chicken coop. "Did you hack my Omni-tool?!"

"Not exactly. Let's just say I know people who are very good at finding other people."

It sounded like they were being stalked. Dr. T'Soni had warned them this would happen.

The deep crease between Kenneth's brows was a clear indication that her best friend was more than a little perturbed by this information as well. "That's… Ok. I don't even know where to begin. It's… Um."

Gabriella picked up where Kenneth had left off and spoke bluntly, "creepy, that's what. What is wrong with you?"

"The better question is, Gabby," Goldstein replied softly, the expression on her face was a picture of guileless sincerity mixed with a hint of grave concern. Gabriella almost wanted to believe her. "What could possibly be so important that I would go to this length to find you?"

"What do you mean?" Kenneth asked with a frown.

Goldstein paused for a moment for dramatic effect before she continued smoothly, her voice low and somber. "Commander Shepard was right, the Reapers _are_ real. And what did the Council do about this threat? Nothing. No, it's worse than nothing. Those politicians are going to get everyone killed because they scorn humanity. It's vile, what they've done to smear Commander Shepard's good name after she had saved them all from Sovereign. And the Alliance - ha! They would rather kiss alien ass than listen to their own people. They're all the same corrupt crooks who only care about their careers." Her face twisted in disgust as she took a sip from her glass.

Gabriella exchanged a look with Kenneth. Honestly, she was impressed. Goldstein was really good at this. If they hadn't been warned beforehand, they might have bought her impassioned recruitment speech. Then again, Goldstein had been working as a Cerberus spy within the Alliance for years. It made perfect sense she would be so good at her job.

"Preach to the choir, why don't you." Kenneth muttered into his drink. Gabriella tried not to snort at her friend's dry comment.

As good as Goldstein was at being a persuasive recruiter, she obviously didn't know Kenneth well enough to discern the real meaning behind his words. He was getting impatient and wanted her to hurry up and finish her space Nazi diatribe, not agreeing with her.

"Some things are simply beyond our control, Jenny. Commander Shepard is dead. The world is ending. Nobody cares. There is nothing we can do to change it." Gabriella said with a shrug. Her reply was meant to nudge the conversation to the right place so they didn't have to suffer through any more long winded villain monologue.

Goldstein's eyes glinted with triumphant. "What if I told you there _is_ something we can do?"

 _Hook, line, and sinker._ "Yeah, right." Gabriella laughed. Kenneth chuckled with her.

Ignorant to the real reason why they were so tickled, Goldstein grinned.

x-x-x

 _This is not Shepard._

Joker stared transfixed at the mangled body floating inside the tank, and repeated the mantra to himself.

 _This is not Shepard._

During the briefing at the Lokasenna station, Liara had informed them of Cerberus' perverse plot to recreate legends - a new and improved Normandy to go with a new and improved Commander Shepard. The young widow was made aware of Cerberus' unhealthy interest in Shepard when their agent attempted to bargain with her a scant week after the Normandy was shot down.

To counter their machination, Liara had conspired with Admiral Hackett to fabricate a fake copy to bamboozle the terrorist organization. Her scheme was proven successful - intel suggested that Cerberus was none the wiser of the deception since they continued pouring a massive amount of resources into resurrecting Shepard.

Joker couldn't help but wonder whether Cerberus's mad scientists really could raise the dead. It would be utterly unnatural but beyond amazing if they could bring the Commander back to life…

 _Nah._ Joker shook his head. If there were even a snowball's chance in hell, _Liara_ would be the first one to jump on it. The fact that she hadn't meant that there was absolutely no way Cerberus could make it work.

"It's impossible." Joker muttered under his breath. Empty eye sockets stared back at him. Under the patchwork of tattered muscles and fraying sinews, the doppelganger's expression was frozen in a tortured silent scream. This was not a person. This was a tangle of meat and tubes. This was a fake. This was NOT Shepard.

Joker was, all of a sudden, furious. Toombs' ghastly first hand account of his experience under Cerberus's tender care was the stuff of nightmare. He thought he was mentally prepared when he agreed to the undercover mission Liara had laid out for him, but the sight of Shepard's doppelganger pickled in a glorified mason jar was positively nauseating. "She's dead!" His clenched fists shook as he resisted the urge to punch the reinforced glass because all it would accomplish was to wreck his fragile hands. Again.

"Debatable, depending on how you look at it." Said a smooth, feminine voice from behind him. Joker jumped from the unexpected sound; he thought he was alone when Hawthorne left him here to have a private moment. When he took a good look at the intruder, his brain all but stalled from the visual whiplash.

Breasts.

Perfect, perky, magnificent breasts, trapped underneath a thin layer of tight spandex. Joker couldn't help but squint and tried to find the outline of her nipples - no visible bra line. If he dared to put his hands on those lovely melons and squeeze, he imagined they would lightly spill over the tip of his fingers while her nipples scraped his palms…

"My eyes are up here, Lieutenant Moreau." The owner of those exquisite tits said in an arctic voice that wilted his boner in an instant.

Joker's head snapped up as he automatically straightened at attention. His guts was yelling at him that this woman would rip his dick off if she detected the slightest disrespect. Now that his eyes were no longer glued to her tits, he could see that it wasn't just her breasts that were perfect.

"Um…" His throat was dry. Joker felt stupid standing there, gawking like a complete idiot.

"Miranda Lawson, Lead of the Lazarus Project. You're on my station. Close your mouth."

Joker's teeth clicked together. In his hurry, he was shocked he didn't bite his tongue.

Lawson's grey eyes held little warmth, but they weren't unkind when she studied him. She must have gotten used to people staring at her boobs all day long. "I was told you absolutely needed to see Commander Shepard with your own eyes before you signed on. Are you convinced now?"

Joker swallowed. It didn't help. "She's… There's no skin. It doesn't look like her." He cringed at his own display of blatant stupidity. Why did he have to say the first thing that came to his mind all the time? The last thing he wanted was to tip people off that this fake was not the real Commander Shepard.

To his surprise, Lawson's full lips curved to a faint smile as she regarded the floating body with obvious affection. "Perhaps not. Beauty is never skin deep, Lieutenant. It takes discerning eyes to see the truth." She turned back to gave him an evaluating look, one meticulously shaped eyebrow arched in amusement. "After all, you don't look like the best pilot in the Alliance, either."

Joker was torned between bristling with indignation and puffing his chest up like a peacock. Damn. Drop dead gorgeous, intelligent, and charismatic. He found it difficult to dislike Lawson even knowing she was working for the baddies.

"Do you really think you can do it? Bring her back, I mean." He hated how weak and desperate he sounded.

Lawson didn't answer immediately. If she had said yes without pause, Joker would have thought worse of her. "She was dead when we found her. Now she has a heartbeat. So yes, I believe I can bring her back. I will fail only when I stop trying. Does that answer your questions?"

"Yeah." A traitorous part of his mind wondered whether Liara had made a mistake by not handing Shepard's real body over. Lawson sounded so convinced of her eventual success. What if...

"Are you onboard?"

Joker wiped the cold sweat off his palm and took the hand extended towards him in a firm handshake. "Hell yeah."

x-x-x

"She's trying to kill me." Shepard muttered to herself, her eyes glued to one of the many screens of the Broker feed in Liara's office that used to be the Captain's cabin.

The Enigma was a tiny ship. They had started out in the the comm centre, but at the end they had to rip apart the Captain's cabin next door as well to fit all the equipment inside a secured area. Shepard was a little choked to lose her private bedroom, along with her privacy with Liara. Now they shared a bottom bunk in the crew quarter with everyone. Neither of them minded the narrow bed and her crew was more than happy to give them privacy when the door was locked. All in all, it wasn't a terrible arrangement, but it did suck.

When they transferred all the essential assets out of the Broker ship, Liara had used the opportunity to make several upgrades to streamline the information gathering processes, one of which was the multiple-channel live feeds on priority targets. Glyph was set to alert her in the event of any unusual activities. While Liara was away on a much needed vacation, Shepard was supposed to help out.

This was how she found herself in the current predicament.

"Who's trying to do what?" Tali perked up from the console she had been working on to give Shepard a curious glance.

Shepard jumped at the unexpected question. She hadn't seen Tali when she walked in, and she hadn't thought to check, either. Hastily, she grabbed the screen with both hands and tilted it away from Tali's line of sight. "Nothing." She said, her voice was an octave higher than usual.

The faint glow of Tali's pale eyes narrowed behind her purple tinted faceplate.

Shepard avoided making eye contact and kept her hands on the edge of the screen to save Tali from having to bleach her brain later. The urge to pull at her collar to let in some cool air to sooth her warm skin was getting stronger by the second. "It's, um, Liara."

"What about her?" Tali asked, tilting her head in puzzlement.

Shepard swallowed back 'doing a goddamn strip tease in her living room because she knew I'd be checking up on her through the Broker feed' with some difficulties. At least now she knew who had set up the camera in Liara's apartment. Not that she was complaining, but Shepard would have never imagined her shy, socially awkward bondmate would pull an Aria and wield her own sex appeal as a deadly weapon against her. And wow. Where the hell did she learn to twerk like a professional pole dancer?

"Shepard?" Tali spoke again, this time with a tinge of concern in her voice.

Exerting her much diminished willpower, Shepard tore her gaze away from the erotic peep show and fixed her eyes on the young quarian instead. She had been staring at the screen the whole time instead of answering the question. "Hum? Oh. Liara. She's fine." Her tongue felt thick in her mouth. Everything about Liara was fine. The only thing that was not fine was the impractical see-through black lingerie hugging her curves like a second layer of skin. Shepard had yet to decide whether she preferred peeling them off carefully while showering Liara's skin with feather-like kisses or ripping the sheer fabric apart with her teeth like an animal.

Tali propped a hand on her hips. Her body language was clear that she was highly skeptical of Shepard's claim. "Sure she is. You know what? How about I give you two some space. I've got other stuff to do anyway. Have fun." She said, and sauntered away. Shepard could almost see the sly grin on her face through the tinted glass.

Of course a quarian would know what shenanigans they were up to. While the asari might be the most sexualized race of the Milky Way, the quarians were the undisputed master of no-contact sex. Feeling the tips of her ears burn at the implication, Shepard was not sure if she should be more exasperated or excited by Liara's attempt to torment her. Why did she think sending her workaholic wife away for an extended vacation was a good idea in the first place? Now that Liara had no work to occupy her time, she was free to do as she pleased. Sometimes Shepard forgot Liara was only one hundred and seven, the equivalent of late teens to early twenty by human standards. If an asari's wild maiden years was anything like a human's early adulthood, then it meant she had sent her bondmate off to spring break half a galaxy away, on a planet nearly as debaucherous as Omega, with _Aethyta_ on hand as sole supervision.

"I've made a huge mistake."

On the screen, the camera provided an excellent angle to look down at Liara's cleavage, her full breasts straining against the gossamer black lace that did nothing to conceal the outline of her hardened nipples. Her skin glistened and glowed in the moonlight under a light sheen of sweat while she twisted and gyrated to the soft music that the hidden camera could barely make out. Thankfully, the video quality was much, _much_ better than the audio. Shepard followed the meandering path Liara's fingers were tracing _oh so slowly_ down her torso, lingering at the patch of smooth skin above her waistline, and then back up to cup her own breasts. When Liara's head tipped back with a drawn out moan as she pinched her nipples through the lace, Shepard was certain her own head was going to explode.

Why had she decided to run to the Voyager cluster to spy on the Normandy's construction again? Oh, right, Enigma's stealth function was the best surveillance tool to bypass Cerberus security at their private shipyard. And she needed to be in close proximity to their supply ships in order to deploy Widget to hack into their navigation system.

Liara must truly resent being forced to take a vacation on her own because she ramped up the next level of torture by sending a sultry smirk before she turned her back to the camera, and then undid the front clasp of her bra. With a casual flick, the thin straps tumbled off her shoulders and the garment landed on the floor in a discarded heap.

Shepard's heart pounded in her throat while she mentally begged her bondmate to turn around.

Liara did not heed her wishes. Instead, she bent at the waist to pick up a small bottle on the floor. The prints were large enough for the cursive asari script to be legible.

Massage oil.

Shepard seriously contemplated calling Liara and pleading for mercy because she could guess where this was going. One-sided, unfair vid sex, really? Their scheduled rendezvous would be nine days from now. If Liara insisted on playing this game, Shepard just _knew_ she was going to die of excessive teasing.

Liara upended the glass bottle and drizzled a generous amount of massage oil on a cupped palm. She glanced back, twisting her upper body towards the camera without revealing anything important, and rubbed her palms together to spread the warm liquid around. Shepard panted at the sight of Liara's oil-slick fingers gliding along her delicate neckfolds, her blue eyes half-lidded and hazy from arousal but remained fixed on the camera to maintain eye contact. She knew Shepard was watching, and she intended to make her suffer.

"Commander, you have received a Priority One message. The line is open. Rerouting." Glyph's chipper voice didn't register in Shepard's mind initially, but when the insectoid face of the Collector General plastered over the screen she was holding, she was shocked into warping the hardware to a smoking heap on reflex.

"Fucking hell!" Shepard scrambled backward, flaring her biotics in agitation while her hand flew to her belt for a pistol that wasn't there. Blood roaring in her ears, Shepard snarled at the wall of screens from the Broker's feed, each one showing the same ugly wide face with four yellow eyes that glowed like searchlights.

"Shadow Broker. Cut off all communications in the human colony at the attached coordinates. You have forty-eight hours."

 _Think, damnit! Stall for time!_

"Forty-eight hours is not enough time. Our agents…"

The Collector General cut her off with a high pitched screech that grated like a rusty nail on chalkboard. "We will not be delayed by your incompetence! You have forty-eight hours." The screen cut to black after that.

"The line is closed. End of message. Resuming regular feeds." Glyph chirped cheerfully.

Shepard had never wanted to scrap the fucking info drone as badly as now. "Glyph, listen carefully. The next time you put anyone through without asking permission first, I swear I will render you down to a pile of omni-gel, that I'll then use to patch the leaking toilet."

Glyph sounded significantly more subdued after being threatened with bodily harm. "Noted."

Taking a deep breath to calm her hammering heart, Shepard tapped on the main console to wake the display from sleep mode. "Show me the coordinates on the galaxy map."

"Beaumonde, a human colony in Sigurd's Cradles, population 2,141. Its main industry is small scale farming and food processing to supply the Omega station. ETA seven days, two hours and twenty-one minutes."

Shepard slammed her fist into the bulkhead. Over two thousand innocent people were going to be butchered and she was helpless to do anything about it. She was given forty-eight hours, and she was seven days away. What was the point of taking over an entire Broker network for the intel if she could not act on it?

"Glyph, do we have agents in the area?" The moment those words left her lips, Shepard knew it was a stupid question. What use were spies when the enemies came by the size of a dreadnought? Worse still, she would have to do the Collector's bidding and cut off all communications around Beaumonde while its colonists were being herded like cattle for slaughter. If she refused to obey in order to save two thousand lives right now, she would lose out on future intel, thus condemning all future victims.

But the part that sent her seething in impotent rage was the thought that even if she could somehow reach Beaumonde in two day's time, there was absolutely nothing she could do to prevent the massacre.

"Yes, we do, Commander. Of our senior operatives, agent Shora is currently stationed at Beaumonde for an ongoing operation. Agent Feron is stationed at Whitefall, a human colony in the same cluster. Agent Calamis and agent Murat are on Omega. Agent Nyxeris and Dr. T'Soni are in Nos Astra..."

"Stop."

The info drone wisely shut up.

There had to be something she could do. Shepard refused to believe otherwise. She didn't travel back in time just to throw up her hands when confronted with a seemingly unscalable obstacle. The N7 logo she wore on her chestplate was there for a reason. When her back was against the wall, she'd better fucking use it.

"Secure a channel. Get me the agent on Beaumonde, stat."

x-x-x

A/N: Yes, Andromeda players, the commandos are the ones you think. I simply could not resist. Pelas and Errin are both characters taken from Armax Arsenal fan mails. About Joker: Liara gave the Neptune cell misleading info before she sent them undercover to make their reactions convincing (aka to fool the enemy, you first fool your allies). Joker didn't know Shepard was alive. Those of you who are waiting for the reveal scene will have to wait awhile. Also, work is going to be crazy for the next two months. I may not have much time to write. I'll try, but no promises.


End file.
